Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors
Solar panel flexibility plays an important role in the attitude control of satellites. Therefore, traditionally the deformations of flexible solar panels are measured with a series of sensors along the panels itself. This paper presents a novel maiden attempt to simultaneously estimate the attitude...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2022
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/100487/ |
| _version_ | 1848863336238678016 |
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| author | Ghani, Marzieh Assadian, Nima Varatharajoo, Renuganth |
| author_facet | Ghani, Marzieh Assadian, Nima Varatharajoo, Renuganth |
| author_sort | Ghani, Marzieh |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Solar panel flexibility plays an important role in the attitude control of satellites. Therefore, traditionally the deformations of flexible solar panels are measured with a series of sensors along the panels itself. This paper presents a novel maiden attempt to simultaneously estimate the attitude and deformation of a flexible satellite using only 2 low-cost attitude sensors namely the sun sensor and magnetometer measurements. The flexible satellite is considered as a central rigid body with two attached flexible panels in order to derive the governing dynamic equations based on the Lagrange’s equation. Both Extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) are employed for the purpose of simultaneous attitude and deformation estimations. By performing a comparison between EKF and UKF through a Monte-Carlo simulation, UKF shows less sensitivity during eclipse. However, its computational time is much more than that of EKF. The numerical results also demonstrate that including the flexibility model in the developed estimation equations enables the algorithm to successfully estimate the deformation at any solar panel location without the need for any conventional sensor that directly measures the strain and/or deformation. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:31:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-100487 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:31:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-1004872023-11-23T08:48:25Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/100487/ Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors Ghani, Marzieh Assadian, Nima Varatharajoo, Renuganth Solar panel flexibility plays an important role in the attitude control of satellites. Therefore, traditionally the deformations of flexible solar panels are measured with a series of sensors along the panels itself. This paper presents a novel maiden attempt to simultaneously estimate the attitude and deformation of a flexible satellite using only 2 low-cost attitude sensors namely the sun sensor and magnetometer measurements. The flexible satellite is considered as a central rigid body with two attached flexible panels in order to derive the governing dynamic equations based on the Lagrange’s equation. Both Extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) are employed for the purpose of simultaneous attitude and deformation estimations. By performing a comparison between EKF and UKF through a Monte-Carlo simulation, UKF shows less sensitivity during eclipse. However, its computational time is much more than that of EKF. The numerical results also demonstrate that including the flexibility model in the developed estimation equations enables the algorithm to successfully estimate the deformation at any solar panel location without the need for any conventional sensor that directly measures the strain and/or deformation. Elsevier 2022-01-01 Article PeerReviewed Ghani, Marzieh and Assadian, Nima and Varatharajoo, Renuganth (2022) Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors. Advances in Space Research, 69 (1). 677 - 689. ISSN 0273-1177; ESSN: 1879-1948 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117721006608 10.1016/j.asr.2021.08.010 |
| spellingShingle | Ghani, Marzieh Assadian, Nima Varatharajoo, Renuganth Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title | Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title_full | Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title_fullStr | Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title_short | Attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| title_sort | attitude and deformation coupled estimation of flexible satellite using low-cost sensors |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/100487/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/100487/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/100487/ |