Star tracker parametric analysis for autonomous calibration

Star tracker parameters such as the focus and principal offset greatly affect the system accuracy.This paper quantitatively analyzes the effects of the star image processing accuracy,the lens principal offset,and the focal length error on star pattern identification(Star-ID.An autonomous parametric calibration method was then developed based on night-sky observation experiments.The APS CMOS star tracker parameters were calibrated using the method after which a night-sky observation experiment using the calibrated parameters showed that the star pattern identification success rate reached 100%.The theoretical and experimental results indicate that the method can be applied to star tracker system design and autonomous parameter calibration.