Autonomous on-orbit calibration of a star tracker camera

作者：Liu, Hai bo^*; Wang, Jiong qi; Tan, Ji chun; Yang, Jian kun; Jia, Hui; Li, XIu jian

来源：Optical Engineering, 2011, 50(2): 023604.

DOI：10.1117/1.3542039

• star tracker
• autonomous calibration
• kalman filter
• interstar angles
• distortion

We have developed a calibration approach for a star tracker camera. A modified version of the least-squares iteration algorithm combining Kalman filter is put forward, which allows for autonomous on-orbit calibration of the star tracker camera even with nonlinear camera distortions. In the calibration approach, the optimal principal point and focal length are achieved at first via the modified algorithm, and then the high-order focal-plane distortions are estimated using the solution of the first step. To validate this proposed calibration approach, the real star catalog and synthetic attitude data are adopted to test its performance. The test results have demonstrated the proposed approach performs well in terms of accuracy, robustness, and performance. It can satisfy the autonomous on-orbit calibration of the star tracker camera.

• 出版日期2011-2
• 单位中国人民解放军国防科学技术大学