star pattern recognition
Posted: 28.05.2006, 02:06
Hello Everyone,
I have been tasked by my boss to come up with an alorithm to recognize a spacecraft's orientation given the spacecraft's CCTV image. Most spacecrafts have an IMU (inertial measurement unit) that tells which way the spacecraft is pointing. To calibrate the spacecraft, the IMU must use the stars to calibrate and tune its IMU's understanding of spacecraft's orientation.
I have to come up with a way to use a star cataloge to calculate a quaternion given a bitmap of stars. I am able to use the stars that are 6.5 or brighter. I am going to test the algorithm using Celestia. I have been through Celestia's pick mode and I am going to add another mode that runs through my algorithm.
Has anyone done such an algorithm? I read through a few white papers but they are about 10 years old. I need an algorithm that runs fast.
Thanks
Tim
I have been tasked by my boss to come up with an alorithm to recognize a spacecraft's orientation given the spacecraft's CCTV image. Most spacecrafts have an IMU (inertial measurement unit) that tells which way the spacecraft is pointing. To calibrate the spacecraft, the IMU must use the stars to calibrate and tune its IMU's understanding of spacecraft's orientation.
I have to come up with a way to use a star cataloge to calculate a quaternion given a bitmap of stars. I am able to use the stars that are 6.5 or brighter. I am going to test the algorithm using Celestia. I have been through Celestia's pick mode and I am going to add another mode that runs through my algorithm.
Has anyone done such an algorithm? I read through a few white papers but they are about 10 years old. I need an algorithm that runs fast.
Thanks
Tim