Comparative study of extended kalman filter and particle filter for attitude estimation in gyroless low earth orbit spacecraft

Abstract

This paper presents attitude determination using a designed observer for gyroless Low Earth Orbit spacecraft using two different estimation approaches which are Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Particle Filter (PF) algorithms. This designed system contributes as an alternative or backup system during rate data absence resulted from the unexpected failure of existing gyros. The performance of EKF and PF as the estimator in the observer are compared in terms of statistical and computational aspects. The performance of the nonlinear observer to estimate the states is also verified using real flight data of Malaysian satellite.