Micro-Satellite Attitude Determination with Only a Single Horizon Sensor

Through using measurement from only a single horizon sensor, this paper presented a quaternion-based 3-axis attitude determination method, which can be implemented on board micro-satellites and applied over a whole orbital period. Firstly, a description of attitude representation on the quaternion is given. Secondly, a detailed modeling formulation with nadir vector and measurement equations on attitude estimation system is demonstrated. Afterwards, a correction is made to eliminate the estimation error resulted from Earth’s oblateness, and able to further improve the accuracy of the attitude determination algorithm. Finally, a six degree-of-freedom closed-loop simulation is used to validate the accuracy of the attitude determination method given in this paper.