A novel self-localization protocol for spacecraft clusters

Details A novel self-localization protocol for spacecraft clusters A novel self-localization protocol for spacecraft clusters

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsa31a1958s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SA31A-1958

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[2794] Magnetospheric Physics / Instruments And Techniques, [7504] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Celestial Mechanics, [7969] Space Weather / Satellite Drag

Scientific paper

There is a need for multipoint in-situ measurements to address many scientific problems related to Geospace. In this paper, we outline an efficient and innovative algorithm that allows multiple spacecraft (s/c) to self-localize their position within a cluster. The new technique is based on measurements of the time-of-arrival of transmitted calibration signals that each s/c broadcasts. Among the features of our self-localization protocol, we emphasize: (a) distributed processing - all computations are performed over the entire cluster network, which provides great stability to the algorithm in case of failure or malfunction of some s/c in the cluster; (b) relative localization of spacecrafts' position allows for local computation of physical quantities of interest (such as the electric field, the magnetic field etc), which reduce the communication time with Earth-based computational centers; and (c) the algorithm is robust vs. statistical noise which is inevitably present, and can be kept under control by increasing the number of spacecrafts in the cluster. Such an algorithm minimizes both communication and computation costs, and therefore is expected to be energy efficient. Determination of iteration cycles will also be discussed in the self-localization process in order to achieve an acceptable level of accuracy. Spacecraft positioning within the cloud will also be discussed with the context of atmospheric differential drag techniques, a technology that enables reactionless formation control, guaranteeing that the entire system will have line of site communications with every other spacecraft in the cluster. The overarching cluster architecture goal is such that a single spacecraft will aggregate all data and be the source of all communications to the ground. Thus, from a ground operational perspective, communications with the system can be achieved using approximately the same resources normally allocated to communicating with individual spacecraft.

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