Design of a novel fault detection algorithm based on Euler angles for the attitude determination system of a 3-axis stabilized satellite

This paper presents a new scheme for fault detection in satellite Attitude Determination (AD) sensors. The proposed method is based on derivation of all possible relations which result in Euler angles and comparison of these angles provided by them. Accordingly, significant changes in the distribution of Euler angles set, is used as a benchmark for fault detection. The features which have been achieved by this philosophy make it possible to provide an analytical approach for fault detection without imposing any additional sensors, mass, power consumption and costs. Also, the outlined method is a free-model based approach which allows combination of this algorithm with the model-based algorithms utilized in the attitude control subsystem. So it provides the detection of sensor faults independent of the actuators situations. The numerical simulations presented in this paper demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the designed algorithms.