Research/ ORBITAL ROBOTICS
An Equivariant Filter for Spacecraft Nonlinear Relative Navigation with Range and Bearing Measurements
Gil Serrano, Bruno J. Guerreiro, Pedro Lourenço, and Rita Cunha
Rendezvous, Proximity Ops & DockingOpenAlex keyword: autonomous rendezvous · Guidance, Dynamics & ControlarXiv: eess.SY · Perception & State EstimationOpenAlex topic: Target Tracking and Data Fusion in Sensor Networks
arXiveess.SY · cs.SYOpenAlexSpacecraft Dynamics and Control · Space Satellite Systems and Control · Target Tracking and Data Fusion in Sensor Networks
Relative navigation is a fundamental task in space proximity operations and autonomous rendezvous. The nonlinear relative orbital dynamics are equivariant and admit a semidirect product Lie group symmetry. This property is used to design an Equivariant Filter (EqF). The filter estimates the relative position and velocity between a chaser spacecraft and a target by lifting the filter dynamics to the group, while respecting the underlying geometry of the problem. Simulations demonstrate the filter's performance and effectiveness.
Comments: Extended version of a manuscript submitted to IEEE for possible publication