Patent · US Expired

Autonomous gyro scale factor and misalignment calibration

US6298288A · kind A · utility

14Cited by
5References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 16, 1998
Grant dateOct 2, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 16, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
  • CPC primaryB64G1/245
  • WIPO fieldTransport
  • WIPO sectorMechanical engineering

Abstract

A system and method of estimating the attitude of a spacecraft is disclosed. A three-axis inertial-based estimate of spacecraft attitude is produced and is compared to a stellar-based estimate of spacecraft attitude. A Kalman filter having states associated with gyro scale factor and/or misalignment errors compares the stellar-based attitude estimate to the inertial-based estimate of attitude and apportions the total error into three time varying matrices. A first time varying matrix is associated with gyro scale factor and misalignment errors, a second time varying matrix is associated with gyro bias errors, and a third time varying matrix is associated with attitude errors. The time varying matrices are applied as corrective feedbacks to the inertial-based estimate of spacecraft attitude and are adaptively adjusted to minimize the error therein.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.