Ph.D. Proposal

Jonathan Schiller

(Advisor: Prof. Christian)

"Range and Range Rate Beacon Based Initial Orbit Determination for Cislunar and Interplanetary Applications"

Tuesday, December 10 

2:00 p.m.

CODA Building Room C0915 Atlantic

Abstract

Most spacecraft rely on some form of navigation architecture to provide them with information on their orbital state.  Close to the Earth, they can rely on Global Navigation Satellite Services (GNSS) or ground-based tracking networks to determine their orbits.  Farther from the Earth, options become more limited, with many relying on the overburdened Deep Space Network (DSN) or turning to more autonomous methods of navigation.  Recent proposals have suggested deploying a navigation constellation similar to GNSS at the Moon, but this comes at great cost and still leaves many regions of space without coverage.  This work provides theoretical frameworks to extend beacon-based navigation to new areas of space while keeping costs down.  As keeping track of precise orbits can be done using batch and Kalman filtering techniques, this work focuses on the more difficult problem of initial orbit determination (IOD) over a period of time using fewer than four beacons simultaneously.  Three IOD algorithms are developed, all using range and range rate measurements derived from navigation beacons.  First, an optimization-based algorithm using two beacons is presented for use with either the restricted two body problem or the circular restricted three body problem (CR3BP).  Next, a root-finding-based algorithm using two beacons is shown which is more efficient than the first algorithm for the two body problem but does not work for the three body problem.  Finally, another optimization-based algorithm is developed using a single beacon for use exclusively in the CR3BP.  These three algorithms together can enable IOD for use in low-cost navigation architectures for cislunar and interplanetary applications.
 

Committee
•    Prof. John A. Christian – School of Aerospace Engineering (advisor)
•    Prof. Koki Ho – School of Aerospace Engineering
•    Prof. E. Glenn Lightsey – School of Aerospace Engineering