Attitude Fusing using Digital Sun Sensor &

Magnetometer for RISAT Satellite

Amit Maji

Laboratory of Electro-Optics System (LEOS)

E-mail: amit@leos.gov.in

Introduction
Attitude of Spacecraft: Orientation of Spacecraft relative to

some references or object of interest such as Sun, Earth,

Star or earth magnetic field
Involved several types of sensor likes Sun Sensor, Earth

sensor, Magnetometer and Star Sensor

Absolute Attitude sensor for Indian Remote Sensing

Satellite:
Star Sensor(SS), 4PI Sun Sensor(4PISS), Digital Sun Sensor(DSS)
& Magnetometer

Attitude Sensors
Star Sensor :
Provides the complete attitude of the spacecraft
Accuracy : 10(Detector Plane) & 40(bore sight Axis)

4PI SS :

Provides Sun Vector in sensor body frame

Accuracy : 5

DSS:
Provides Sun Vector in sensor body frame
Accuracy : 0.125

Magnetometer:
Provides three axes earth magnetic field in sensor body frame
Accuracy : 500nT

Attitude Fusion
Normally SS provides the absolute attitude of the

spacecraft with the accuracy of few arc sec.

Many satellites, coarse attitude of the satellite is calculated
using sun vector and earth magnetic field vector using
attitude fusion algorithm
Attitude Fusion: Determination of Absolute attitude of the
satellite using two or more sensor data
The attitude accuracy is depends on the accuracy of the
sensor
Algorithm Used: TRIAD

TRIAD Algorithm
Required two vector(sun vector & magnetic field vector) in

sensor body frame Sb & Mb

Same vector in Inertial frame - Si & Mi
Sun vector is selected as first vector in triad since it
provides higher accuracy
First vector in Triad Frame: t1b =Sb
&
t1i =Si
Second Triad Vector: perpendicular to the two observations
t2b = (Sb X Mb ) /| Sb X Mb | & t2i = (Si X Mi ) /| Si X Mi |
Third Vector
t3b = (t1b X t2b )
& t3i = (t1i X t2i )
Triad Matrix:
[ t1b t2b t3b ] & [ t1i t2i t3i ]
Attitude Matrix:
Rbi=[ t1b t2b t3b ] [ t1i t2i t3i ]T

Attitude Fusion using 4PI & Magnetometer

In many satellites, coarse attitude is calculated using 4PISS

and Magnetometer data when high accuracy attitude

sensors are not available
But 4PISS is a low accuracy analog sensor whose accuracy is
affected by the Earth Albeo, reflected sun lights from the
earths surface
The accuracy of the magnetometer is also affected by the
biased magnetic field of the spacecraft, internal
misalignment of magnetometer system, external
miscalibration of magnetometer system
The attitude error: 5

Attitude Error

Proposed Attitude Fusion using DSS & Calibrated

magnetometer
DSS is a two axes high accuracy sun sensor provides
the sun aspect angle w.r.t sensor body frame
No Earth Albedo Effect
R

Sun Vector
n

DSS
P

Cont..

DSS output Vs Reference Output

Cont..

Proposed Attitude Fusion using DSS & Calibrated

magnetometer
Magnetometer is calibrated using the bias determination

algorithm

A(t) =3x3 attitude matrix at time t that transforms vectors from

reference to body co-ordinate

B0(t) =Earths Magnetic field in reference co-ordinate
B(t)=Earths Magnetic field in S/C body frame co-ordinate
D(t)=The spacecraft control magnetic dipole(Magnetic torque )
which has linear effect on the magnetometer data
b= Bias Vector, to be determined
S=3x3 scale factor/ misalignment matrix, to be determined
T=3X3 matrix relating the control vector to the magnetometer
data, to be determined
I= 3x3 identity matrix
Cont..

Magnetometer Data

Attitude Error

Conclusion
The determination of satellite attitude using DSS and calibrated

Magnetometer is more accurate compare to 4PI & Magnetometer

The roll and yaw attitude error of the satellite using calibrated
magnetometer & DSS by fusion algorithm are within 1 for full
orbit and for pitch is 2.
The attitude error is within 0.5 during pole crossing where
magnetometer error is less
The attitude accuracy can be further improved filtering using
kalman filter
The attitude obtained by fusion of DSS & Magnetometer can
form a backup option for satellite independent of prime sensors.

Thank You