Due to the complexity and inter-dependence of a guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) system, the process of converting top level system requirements into low level navigation requirements has traditionally been an ad-hoc art relying on engineering judgement, experience, and rough calculations. In addition, requirements are generally formulated when numerous aspects of the mission that directly impact the navigation system are still in flux. As a result, deriving and validating navigation requirements for a specific application, particularly for on-orbit rendezvous and docking missions, can become an iterative and laborious task with subjective results. The objective of this paper is to develop a simple, yet rigorous, method for deriving and validating navigation requirements and identify potential sensor suites that satisfy those navigation requirements at the lowest cost. By combining and applying fundamental principles commonly accepted with Monte Carlo analysis, linear covariance analysis, and sensitivity analysis, a fast, practical, and reliable methodology for deriving and validating navigation requirements emerges that also identifies the optimal sensor suite to fulfill those requirements. This systematic and objective approach for deriving navigation requirements can accommodate updates and modifications as the system design solidifies and naturally scales to handle multiple mission scenarios if needed.
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