EVALUATION OF SUN POSITION USING THE PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION - An Application for Attitude Estimation in Box-Shape Satellites

Ronilson Rocha, Caio Pequeno Gouvêia, Alexandre José Ferreira, Talita Bueno Barbosa

2009

Abstract

It is necessary at least two or more independent known vectors for attitude determination of an artificial satellite. One of these vectors can be the Earth Magnetic Field, which is used as reference in navigation for centuries. Other reference can be the sun, which is easily distinguished of other astronomical objects in the proximities of the Earth. While the Earth Magnetic Field can be measured by a small solid-state three-axis magneto-resistive transducer, the own photovoltaic system of the artificial satellite can provide a evaluation of the azimuthal position of the sun. This paper presents a way to estimate the sun position from the own satellite power system. This information is used for attitude determination, allowing the integration of two important subsystems of an artificial satellite.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Rocha R., Gouvêia C., Ferreira A. and Barbosa T. (2009). EVALUATION OF SUN POSITION USING THE PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION - An Application for Attitude Estimation in Box-Shape Satellites . In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO, ISBN 978-989-674-000-9, pages 177-182. DOI: 10.5220/0002192601770182

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icinco09,
author={Ronilson Rocha and Caio Pequeno Gouvêia and Alexandre José Ferreira and Talita Bueno Barbosa},
title={EVALUATION OF SUN POSITION USING THE PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION - An Application for Attitude Estimation in Box-Shape Satellites},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO,},
year={2009},
pages={177-182},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002192601770182},
isbn={978-989-674-000-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO,
TI - EVALUATION OF SUN POSITION USING THE PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION - An Application for Attitude Estimation in Box-Shape Satellites
SN - 978-989-674-000-9
AU - Rocha R.
AU - Gouvêia C.
AU - Ferreira A.
AU - Barbosa T.
PY - 2009
SP - 177
EP - 182
DO - 10.5220/0002192601770182