Unscented kalman filtering for relative spacecraft attitude and position estimation
Open accessAbstract
A novel relative spacecraft attitude and position estimation approach based on an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is derived. The integrated sensor suite comprises the gyro sensors on each spacecraft and a vision-based navigation system on the slave spacecraft. In the traditional algorithm, an assumption that the master's body frame coincides with its Local Vertical Local Horizontal (LVLH) frame is made to construct the line-of-sight observations for convenience. To solve this problem, two relative quaternions that map the master's LVLH frame to the slave and master body frames are involved. The general relative equations of motion for eccentric orbits are used to describe the positional dynamics. The implementation equations for the UKF are derived. A modified version of the UKF is presented based on the averaging-quaternion algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the proposed filters provide more accurate estimates of relative attitude and position than the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF).
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Navigation systems for close-proximity operations have been extensively validated for RF and monocular vision navigation for FF and on-orbit servicing when the target is cooperative.
“Navigation systems for close-proximity operations have been extensively validated in the context of RF and monocular vision navigation for FF and on-orbit ser-630 vicing, when the target is cooperative [64,1,65,61,66].”
From Review of the robustness and applicability of monocular pose estimation systems for relative navigation with an uncooperative spacecraft (2019) · cites this paper as [66]
The Introduction (page unavailable in our copy) describes beacon-based vision navigation for close-range formation flying and rendezvous, and the paper reports simulation results for its navigation filter. It does not establish extensive validation of RF navigation or navigation for on-orbit servicing, and its validation is by simulation rather than operational testing. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe EKF and UKF presented in [61] and [66] rely on availability of gyro measurements from each spacecraft, which is usually not the case for uncooperative spacecraft in ADR scenarios.
“As an example, the EKF and the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) presented in [61] and [66], respectively, rely on the availability of gyro measurements from each spacecraft, which is usually not the case for uncooperative 635 spacecraft in ADR scenarios.”
From Review of the robustness and applicability of monocular pose estimation systems for relative navigation with an uncooperative spacecraft (2019) · cites this paper as [66]
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Cites
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- Authors
- Zhang, L., Li, T., Yang, H., Zhang, S., Cai, H., & Qian, S.
- Affiliations
- National University of Defense Technology (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Lijun
- Venue
- Journal of Navigation
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-11-05
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 528-548
- ISSN
- 0373-4633 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7785
- OpenAlex
- W2145106041
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 0.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Navigation (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National University of Defense Technology
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Inertial Sensor and Navigation
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Target Tracking and Data Fusion in Sensor Networks
- Keywords
- unscented Kalman filter, visual navigation, eccentric orbits, extended Kalman filter comparison, formation flying
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