In-orbit error calibration of star sensor based on high resolution imaging payload

An in-orbit error calibration method for the satellite equipped with high-resolution imaging payload is proposed to a high-accuracy star sensor/gyro integrated attitude determination system. The Low spatial Frequency Error (LFE), which is a primary error for the star sensor in-flight application, is mainly caused by the periodic thermal distortion and field-of-view variation. LFE is modeled by the Fourier series. The high-accuracy directional output of payload is employed as a reference. Then the Fourier coefficients of LFE and installation error of star sensor are assumed to be constant, and estimated together with the attitude parameters by employing Augmented Extended Kalman filter (AEKF). During the experiments, the LFE is simulated according to the telemetry data from the real star sensor. The simulation results show that the influence of LFE and installation error can be compensated with the estimated error parameters, and the attitude accuracy is improved effectively.