Date of Award:

12-2008

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

David K. Geller

Committee

David K. Geller

Committee

Byard D. Wood

Committee

R. Rees Fullmer

Committee

Charles M. Swenson

Committee

Stephen A. Whitmore

Abstract

The proposed thesis of this dissertation has both a practical element and theoretical component which aim to answer key questions related to the use of angles-only navigation for autonomous orbital rendezvous. The first and fundamental principle to this work argues that an angles-only navigation filter can determine the relative position and orientation (pose) between two spacecraft to perform the necessary maneuvers and close proximity operations for autonomous orbital rendezvous. Second, the implementation of angles-only navigation for on-orbit applications is looked upon with skeptical eyes because of its perceived limitation of determining the relative range between two vehicles. This assumed, yet little understood subtlety can be formally characterized with a closed-form analytical observability criteria which specifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for determining the relative position and velocity with only angular measurements. With a mathematical expression of the observability criteria, it can be used to 1) identify the orbital rendezvous trajectories and maneuvers that ensure the relative position and velocity are observable for angles-only navigation, 2) quantify the degree or level of observability and 3) compute optimal maneuvers that maximize observability. In summary, the objective of this dissertation is to provide both a practical and theoretical foundation for the advancement of autonomous orbital rendezvous through the use of angles-only navigation.

Checksum

3a3cc2c24bfb029bc7788c9c36e03bc2

Comments

This work was revised and made publicly available electronically on August 3, 2011.

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .