Filtering for precision pointing and tracking with application for aircraft to satellite tracking

Abstract : Many aerospace problems include the requirement for precision pointing and tracking from one accelerating vehicle to another. This paper considers the use of Kalman filtering for a general class of high precision pointing and tracking applications and the application of the general framework to a specific problem. A general framework which contains all known error sources is developed for a particular Kalman filter. With a covariance sensitivity analysis, this framework can be used to determine the performance of a reduced order filter and conduct a hardware requirements analysis and trade off. In particular, the paper addresses the application of the general framework for an aircraft to satellite precision tracking problem.