Kalman filter design and implementation for the 2D real-time testbed control using EVS

This paper addresses Kalman filter design and implementation for a 2D spacecraft control using an external vision system (EVS). Initial work on assessing the vision data quality revealed that the angle measured by the EVS was contaminated with a significant amount of noise. A three-state Kalman filter was therefore designed and implemented to attenuate the vision measurement noise. The Kalman filter model described was derived and quantified. Simulation for nominal cases without external disturbance and simulation for the same noise level but apply a 0.015 N-m external disturbance torque were conducted and gave satisfactory results. Finally, the testbed closed-loop normal pointing performance and slew performance with the designed Kalman filter were tested and evaluated. The results show that the system performances met the 0.25deg RMS pointing requirement