Absolute space-based sensor registration using a single target of opportunity

Bias estimation for multiple passive sensors using common targets of opportunity has been researched extensively. However, the proposed solutions required the use of multiple (two or more) passive sensors. In order to remove this constraint, we provide in this paper a new methodology using a single exoatmospheric target of opportunity seen in a single satellite borne sensor’s field of view to estimate the sensor’s biases simultaneously with the state of the target. The satellite is equipped with an optical sensor that provides the Line Of Sight (LOS) measurements of azimuth and elevation to the target. The evaluation of the Cram´er-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) on the covariance of the bias estimates, and the statistical tests on the results of simulations show that this method is statistically efficient.