Optimization of directional sensor orientation with application to photodiodes for spacecraft attitude determination

We present a method to optimize the orientation of directional sensors and instruments in a vehicle body-fixed frame. This technique can be used in spacecraft design to maximize the performance of directional sensors and instruments. The optimization formulation consists of using the attitude sphere to create directions over which to optimize and deriving an objective function that uses these directions along with their weights. The optimization method is presented and demonstrated by application to photodiodes for spacecraft attitude determination, in which the orientation of the photodiodes are optimized to provide the most accurate sun vector estimates with the given hardware. This technique maximizes subsystem performance and provides a design method to replace traditional, iterative design approaches to sensor placement.

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