The Boeing Company

Peter C Lai

Rongsheng Li

Yeong-Wei Andy Wu

Richard A Fowell

David D Needelman

Bruce N Eyerly

Jonathan French

James P Alstad

A system () includes: a) A vehicle () includes an attitude or angular velocity control system (), a plurality of star trackers or star sensors () each having a field of view (); b) a memory () having a star catalog (), a star pair catalog () and a reference table () stored therein; and c) a processor () coupled to the attitude or angular velocity control system (), the star trackers or star sensors (), and the memory (). The processor () determines the vehicle inertial attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, based, in part, on the star pair catalog () and reference table (). The design of the star pair catalog () and reference table () is suitable for rapid determination of attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, and an efficient use of memory.

Fast access, low memory, pair catalog

A vehicle () including a control system () is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (). The processor () is coupled to a star sensor or tracker () and a memory () that may include a star catalog (), and an exclusion list (). The exclusion list (), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board. The system uses multiple stayout zones for excluding stars from the exclusion list. A central exclusion zone excludes all stars while a second or more exclusion zones allow some stars to be used in the attitude determination

Multiple stayout zones for ground-based bright object exclusion

A vehicle () including a control system () is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (). The processor () is coupled to a star sensor or tracker () and a memory () that may include a star catalog (), and an exclusion list (). The exclusion list (), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on-board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board.

Method and apparatus for real-time star exclusion from a database

A system () includes: a) A vehicle () includes an attitude or angular velocity control system (), a plurality of star trackers or star sensors () each having a field of view (); b) a memory () having a star catalog (), an allocated area for a star pair catalog () and a reference table () stored therein; and c) a processor () coupled to the attitude or angular velocity control system (), the star trackers or star sensors (), and the memory (). The processor () populates the star pair catalog (), using the method described herein. The processor () then periodically determines the vehicle inertial attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, based, in part, on the star pair catalog () and reference table (). The novel ability of the software to autonomously populate the star pair catalog () allows users to avoid uploading a large amount of data, and the problems associated with such an upload.

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Alhambra, CA, United States of America

Peter C Lai