Autonomous Navigation Method and Confocal Plane System Design of Carth/star Sensor

In order to meet the needs of autonomous navigation during the flight of a space-changing orbit vehicle from low orbit to high orbit,an autonomous navigation method is adopted by the earth/star sensors confocal plane system. And the autonomous navigation model is established based on the Earth’s edge detection and star observation. Earth’s edge image processing,geocentric vector solution and the aircraft’s position calculating are explained and introduced. The most suitable bands are selected to detect the edge of the earth after analyzing and comparing and the design of the earth/star composite detection optical system is completed. A precision simulation analysis was carried out,and the results showed that the direct positioning accuracy is better than 4 km by the earth/star sensor composite autonomous navigation. It can satisfy the application requirements for the altitude of 4 000～36 000 km,it verifies that the autonomous navigation method and confocal plane system of earth/star sensor can satisfy the application requirements for space-changing orbit vehicle aircraft,which works on the altitude of 4 000～36 000 km.

Conclusion

This article proposes an autonomous navigation method for Earth/star sensor confocal surface composite detection based on the demand for high-precision autonomous navigation in space orbit change flight. It establishes Earth edge detection and star detection, explains the method for solving the geocentric vector and calculating the position of aircraft, designs a confocal surface composite detection system, and conducts simulation experiments, The confocal plane composite autonomous navigation system has been verified to be applicable for navigation and positioning in orbits ranging from 4000 km to 36000 km, with a direct positioning accuracy better than 4 km, meeting the autonomous navigation requirements of space orbit changing vehicles.