Relative State Estimation and Observability Analysis for Formation Flying Satellites

摘要

To autonomously control a satellite formation, the relative position and velocity of the satellites needs to be estimated. For tight formations, all the required information needs to be obtained and processed onboard the satellites. In case absolute position measurements, such as provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS), cannot be obtained, estimation of the absolute or relative state requires the satellites to autonomously measure the intersatellite range and/or line-of-sight angles. Markley [1], Herklotz [2], Psiaki [3], Liu and Liu [4], and Yim et al.