A study of the navigation for formation flying of spacecraft

This paper presents a robust and efficient approach for relative navigation and parameter estimation of spacecraft flying in formation. This approach uses measurements from the optical data that provides a line of sight vector from the master spacecraft to the secondary satellite. State estimation for formation flying is achieved through an optimal observer design. Also, because the rotational and translational motions are coupled through the observation vectors, three approaches are suggested to separate both signals just for stability analysis. Simulation result indicate that the combined sensor/estimator approach provides accurate relative position estimate.