Chinese Space Science and Technology ›› 2011, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (3): 20-25.doi: 10.3780/j.issn.1000-758X.2011.03.004

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Spacecraft Relative Navigation Based on Improved Two Step Kalman Filtering

 LIU  Yong1, XU  Shi-Jie2, XU  Peng1, MA  Jun1   

  1. (1 China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094)(2 BeihangUniversity, Beijing 100191)
  • Received:2010-09-15 Revised:2011-01-18 Published:2011-06-25 Online:2011-06-25

Abstract: For the spacecraft relative navigation in the circular orbits, the linear Clohessy-Wiltshire(C-W) equations were used as the state equations, and the nonlinear equations for the relative distance and azimuth between two spacecraft were used as the observation equations. The improved two step Kalman filtering(TSF) was designed for the special relative navigation problem. The unscented transformation is used for determining the initial distribution about the state vector, and the intact form of the two step Kalman filtering was obtained. The simulation results validate the availability of this navigation method, and show that the TSF can provide better performance than extended Kalman filtering(EKF) and unscented Kalman filtering(UKF).

Key words: Relative navigation, Observation equation, Two step Kalman filtering, Spacecraft