Optimal Linear Attitude Estimator

An optimal linear attitude estimator is presented for the case of a single-point real-time estimation of spacecraft attitude using the minimum-element attitude parameterization: Rodrigues (or Gibbs) vector g. The optimality criterion, which does not coincide with Wahba's constrained criterion, is rigorously quadratic and unconstrained. The singularity, which occurs when the principal angle is π, can easily be avoided by one rotation. The attitude accuracy tests show that the proposed method provides a precision comparable with those fully complying with the Wahba optimality definition. Finally, computational speed tests demonstrate that the proposed method belongs to the class of the fastest optimal attitude estimation algorithms.