Dp 310 en
Development of an attitude estimator for the
Author: Alexander Nucera
The object of this thesis is to illustrate the objectives, development methodology and results of xNooch, a software tool designed and developed by this writer, to estimate the obtainable accuracy of the attitude determination of PEARL, a project of the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, in collaboration with Utah State University. The software was later developed into a more exible tool, evolving to become a valid pre-mission simulator, and both an on-board and post-mission estimator. PEARL is the prototype for a constellation of satellites, whose mission would be a more accurate sounding of Earth's time-varying magnetosphere, and Earth's electric field. xNooch will help determine if PEARL meets the minimum requirements for its mission, with its current sensing equipment, or if any redesigning must be applied; it will guide the designing of the communication protocol, and more specifically the telemetry rates; it will provide accuracy information on the collected data, after the ight is completed and the data is collected; it might be utilized for guidance during the ight. This student explored several techniques for accomplishing the development of such a tool, and successfully implemented it after careful selection.
