A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover
This paper presents the development of low-cost methodologies to determine the attitude of a small, CubeSat-class satellite and a microrover relative to the sun's direction. The use of commercial hardware and simple embedded designs has become an effective path for university programs to put ex...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2013-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Aerospace Engineering |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/549080 |
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| author | Mark A. Post Junquan Li Regina Lee |
| author_facet | Mark A. Post Junquan Li Regina Lee |
| author_sort | Mark A. Post |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper presents the development of low-cost methodologies to determine the attitude of a small, CubeSat-class satellite and a microrover relative to the sun's direction. The use of commercial hardware
and simple embedded designs has become an effective path for university programs to put experimental
payloads in space for minimal cost, and the development of sensors for attitude and heading determination
is often a critical part. The development of two compact and efficient but simple coarse sun sensor
methodologies is presented in this research. A direct measurement of the solar angle uses a photodiode
array sensor and slit mask. Another estimation of the solar angle uses current measurements from
orthogonal arrays of solar cells. The two methodologies are tested and compared on ground hardware.
Testing results show that coarse sun sensing is efficient even with minimal processing and complexity
of design for satellite attitude determination systems and rover navigation systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5677d953112b4aabaf524030287bcfd5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-5966 1687-5974 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Aerospace Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-5677d953112b4aabaf524030287bcfd52025-02-03T07:24:06ZengWileyInternational Journal of Aerospace Engineering1687-59661687-59742013-01-01201310.1155/2013/549080549080A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary MicroroverMark A. Post0Junquan Li1Regina Lee2Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, CanadaDepartment of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, CanadaDepartment of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, CanadaThis paper presents the development of low-cost methodologies to determine the attitude of a small, CubeSat-class satellite and a microrover relative to the sun's direction. The use of commercial hardware and simple embedded designs has become an effective path for university programs to put experimental payloads in space for minimal cost, and the development of sensors for attitude and heading determination is often a critical part. The development of two compact and efficient but simple coarse sun sensor methodologies is presented in this research. A direct measurement of the solar angle uses a photodiode array sensor and slit mask. Another estimation of the solar angle uses current measurements from orthogonal arrays of solar cells. The two methodologies are tested and compared on ground hardware. Testing results show that coarse sun sensing is efficient even with minimal processing and complexity of design for satellite attitude determination systems and rover navigation systems.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/549080 |
| spellingShingle | Mark A. Post Junquan Li Regina Lee A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover International Journal of Aerospace Engineering |
| title | A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover |
| title_full | A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover |
| title_fullStr | A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover |
| title_short | A Low-Cost Photodiode Sun Sensor for CubeSat and Planetary Microrover |
| title_sort | low cost photodiode sun sensor for cubesat and planetary microrover |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/549080 |
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