Precise determination of relative position and orientation in segmented architecture satellites

Abstract

The general topic of this PhD Thesis is about navigation, guidance and control for Distributed Aerospace Systems (DAS). Segmented Architecture Satellites (SAS) are an example of DAS, were a couple or more small and simple satellites (named segments) do a similar work than a traditional monolithic satellite. Terms related to SAS are: formation flying, space networks, parted instruments and cluster navigation, the latter being the particular topic of this Doctoral research. It proposes to focus on aspects related to the relative navigation (onboard precise determination of relative orbit and orientation) between the segments and their use in guiding and controlling them autonomously.