Can a spacecraft use an accelerometer to determine its orientation?How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?Can a free falling astronaut change his spin and orientation?New Horizons - Orientation in spaceHow does a spacecraft know its orientation in orbit?How to select/design a control algorithm for spacecraft attitude control?Does the Hubble telescope use a “simple” PID-controller for its pointing control system?How does Voyager 1 keep track of its orientation?Using what technology one can keep a spacecraft truly non rotatingWhat sensors or combination of sensors do rockets use during takeoff for their orientation?How accurately can you determine time from planetary/star positions?
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Can a spacecraft use an accelerometer to determine its orientation?
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Can a spacecraft use an accelerometer to determine its orientation?
How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?Can a free falling astronaut change his spin and orientation?New Horizons - Orientation in spaceHow does a spacecraft know its orientation in orbit?How to select/design a control algorithm for spacecraft attitude control?Does the Hubble telescope use a “simple” PID-controller for its pointing control system?How does Voyager 1 keep track of its orientation?Using what technology one can keep a spacecraft truly non rotatingWhat sensors or combination of sensors do rockets use during takeoff for their orientation?How accurately can you determine time from planetary/star positions?
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
$begingroup$
I know that almost every spacecraft uses a gyroscope to determine its orientation, but I don't know if an accelerometer could also be used in addition to a magnetometer to calculate it.
I have been trying to figure it out searching on the internet but all articles say that it can only be done if the accelerometer only reads gravity, in other words, if it is not moving at all. They use a gravity vector as a reference and then calculate the needed rotation to transform body coordinates into fixed ones. Does it mean that this configuration can't be used to determine the orientation of a rocket in motion and have to rely on the gyroscope measurements?
attitude measurement flight-control
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know that almost every spacecraft uses a gyroscope to determine its orientation, but I don't know if an accelerometer could also be used in addition to a magnetometer to calculate it.
I have been trying to figure it out searching on the internet but all articles say that it can only be done if the accelerometer only reads gravity, in other words, if it is not moving at all. They use a gravity vector as a reference and then calculate the needed rotation to transform body coordinates into fixed ones. Does it mean that this configuration can't be used to determine the orientation of a rocket in motion and have to rely on the gyroscope measurements?
attitude measurement flight-control
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know that almost every spacecraft uses a gyroscope to determine its orientation, but I don't know if an accelerometer could also be used in addition to a magnetometer to calculate it.
I have been trying to figure it out searching on the internet but all articles say that it can only be done if the accelerometer only reads gravity, in other words, if it is not moving at all. They use a gravity vector as a reference and then calculate the needed rotation to transform body coordinates into fixed ones. Does it mean that this configuration can't be used to determine the orientation of a rocket in motion and have to rely on the gyroscope measurements?
attitude measurement flight-control
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
I know that almost every spacecraft uses a gyroscope to determine its orientation, but I don't know if an accelerometer could also be used in addition to a magnetometer to calculate it.
I have been trying to figure it out searching on the internet but all articles say that it can only be done if the accelerometer only reads gravity, in other words, if it is not moving at all. They use a gravity vector as a reference and then calculate the needed rotation to transform body coordinates into fixed ones. Does it mean that this configuration can't be used to determine the orientation of a rocket in motion and have to rely on the gyroscope measurements?
attitude measurement flight-control
attitude measurement flight-control
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 9 hours ago
David Bermejo
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
asked 10 hours ago
David BermejoDavid Bermejo
162 bronze badges
162 bronze badges
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
David Bermejo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
If multiple accelerometers are spread around the vehicle, their readings can be combined to determine angular speed (from centripetal acceleration) and angular acceleration somewhat easily. There would probably need to be at least 4 or 5 to cover all the degrees of freedom, with one at the CG to cancel out linear acceleration.
To calculate orientation from this, the angular speed would need to be integrated over time. With this integration, the same inaccuracy problems come up as with accelerometer position determination. The position drifts from the true value over time. A gyroscope is more effective in this role.
Magnetometers are useful in space, but need to be used differently than on Earth. Normally on Earth they can be taken as a compass, an inertial frame direction that doesn’t have gyroscope drift, but in orbit, it’s a more complex problem.
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It depends a bit on what technology you’re referring to.
The original inertial navigation systems used rotating gyroscopes. Those were and are expensive.
Modern MEMS inertial navigation systems (example) don’t use rotating gyroscopes. Instead, they get both linear and angular acceleration (and angular rate) information from their MEMS accelerometer assemblies. That’s not perfect, degree/hour rates are typical, so other systems (including horizon and sun trackers and magnetometers) are used to make long term corrections.
The MEMS systems are based on tiny vibrating elements. Translational and angular motion affect the vibration in various ways, which are sensed and read out electronically. This is an early example from Draper Labs which worked like a large array of tuning forks:
A linear motion affects all the forks the same, while a rotation affects them differently, and the readout and processing electronics used that to make measurements.
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
$endgroup$
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
If multiple accelerometers are spread around the vehicle, their readings can be combined to determine angular speed (from centripetal acceleration) and angular acceleration somewhat easily. There would probably need to be at least 4 or 5 to cover all the degrees of freedom, with one at the CG to cancel out linear acceleration.
To calculate orientation from this, the angular speed would need to be integrated over time. With this integration, the same inaccuracy problems come up as with accelerometer position determination. The position drifts from the true value over time. A gyroscope is more effective in this role.
Magnetometers are useful in space, but need to be used differently than on Earth. Normally on Earth they can be taken as a compass, an inertial frame direction that doesn’t have gyroscope drift, but in orbit, it’s a more complex problem.
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If multiple accelerometers are spread around the vehicle, their readings can be combined to determine angular speed (from centripetal acceleration) and angular acceleration somewhat easily. There would probably need to be at least 4 or 5 to cover all the degrees of freedom, with one at the CG to cancel out linear acceleration.
To calculate orientation from this, the angular speed would need to be integrated over time. With this integration, the same inaccuracy problems come up as with accelerometer position determination. The position drifts from the true value over time. A gyroscope is more effective in this role.
Magnetometers are useful in space, but need to be used differently than on Earth. Normally on Earth they can be taken as a compass, an inertial frame direction that doesn’t have gyroscope drift, but in orbit, it’s a more complex problem.
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If multiple accelerometers are spread around the vehicle, their readings can be combined to determine angular speed (from centripetal acceleration) and angular acceleration somewhat easily. There would probably need to be at least 4 or 5 to cover all the degrees of freedom, with one at the CG to cancel out linear acceleration.
To calculate orientation from this, the angular speed would need to be integrated over time. With this integration, the same inaccuracy problems come up as with accelerometer position determination. The position drifts from the true value over time. A gyroscope is more effective in this role.
Magnetometers are useful in space, but need to be used differently than on Earth. Normally on Earth they can be taken as a compass, an inertial frame direction that doesn’t have gyroscope drift, but in orbit, it’s a more complex problem.
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
$endgroup$
If multiple accelerometers are spread around the vehicle, their readings can be combined to determine angular speed (from centripetal acceleration) and angular acceleration somewhat easily. There would probably need to be at least 4 or 5 to cover all the degrees of freedom, with one at the CG to cancel out linear acceleration.
To calculate orientation from this, the angular speed would need to be integrated over time. With this integration, the same inaccuracy problems come up as with accelerometer position determination. The position drifts from the true value over time. A gyroscope is more effective in this role.
Magnetometers are useful in space, but need to be used differently than on Earth. Normally on Earth they can be taken as a compass, an inertial frame direction that doesn’t have gyroscope drift, but in orbit, it’s a more complex problem.
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
edited 48 mins ago
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
answered 9 hours ago
CourageousPotatoCourageousPotato
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
1,0581 silver badge10 bronze badges
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
Rather than centripetal acceleration, it might be more accurate/reliable to measure tangential accelerations and integrate those to derive angular movements than to try to measure radial accelerations resulting from rotations. But your point about drift would still apply. Gyroscopes will be vulnerable to precession, so they will have accuracy issues too. The most accurate way to determine orientation would be to sight known fixed points e.g. stars; either accelerometers or gyros could be used to determine moment-by-moment orientation with periodic sightings to maintain calibration.
$endgroup$
– Anthony X
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@AnthonyX using centripetal acceleration to get angular velocity is not integration, so it is not as susceptible to drift as integrating twice for position on multiple accelerometers and determining attitude that way. The centripetal method involves only one integration to get angular position. Precision would depend on how widely the accelerometers would be placed.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
6 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
@uhoh Oh, right. I’ll edit my answer. I was thinking about my example of the Virtual Reality Trainer onboard the ISS. It’s a modified Oculus Rift, and the tracking had to be replaced by inside-out tracking with a webcam due to a few Earth-based assumptions in the tracking hardware/software. One of those is that the magnetometer is used as an unmoving reference direction for the ground. This doesn’t work in space.
$endgroup$
– CourageousPotato
53 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
$begingroup$
fyi I've just asked How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?
$endgroup$
– uhoh
48 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It depends a bit on what technology you’re referring to.
The original inertial navigation systems used rotating gyroscopes. Those were and are expensive.
Modern MEMS inertial navigation systems (example) don’t use rotating gyroscopes. Instead, they get both linear and angular acceleration (and angular rate) information from their MEMS accelerometer assemblies. That’s not perfect, degree/hour rates are typical, so other systems (including horizon and sun trackers and magnetometers) are used to make long term corrections.
The MEMS systems are based on tiny vibrating elements. Translational and angular motion affect the vibration in various ways, which are sensed and read out electronically. This is an early example from Draper Labs which worked like a large array of tuning forks:
A linear motion affects all the forks the same, while a rotation affects them differently, and the readout and processing electronics used that to make measurements.
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It depends a bit on what technology you’re referring to.
The original inertial navigation systems used rotating gyroscopes. Those were and are expensive.
Modern MEMS inertial navigation systems (example) don’t use rotating gyroscopes. Instead, they get both linear and angular acceleration (and angular rate) information from their MEMS accelerometer assemblies. That’s not perfect, degree/hour rates are typical, so other systems (including horizon and sun trackers and magnetometers) are used to make long term corrections.
The MEMS systems are based on tiny vibrating elements. Translational and angular motion affect the vibration in various ways, which are sensed and read out electronically. This is an early example from Draper Labs which worked like a large array of tuning forks:
A linear motion affects all the forks the same, while a rotation affects them differently, and the readout and processing electronics used that to make measurements.
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It depends a bit on what technology you’re referring to.
The original inertial navigation systems used rotating gyroscopes. Those were and are expensive.
Modern MEMS inertial navigation systems (example) don’t use rotating gyroscopes. Instead, they get both linear and angular acceleration (and angular rate) information from their MEMS accelerometer assemblies. That’s not perfect, degree/hour rates are typical, so other systems (including horizon and sun trackers and magnetometers) are used to make long term corrections.
The MEMS systems are based on tiny vibrating elements. Translational and angular motion affect the vibration in various ways, which are sensed and read out electronically. This is an early example from Draper Labs which worked like a large array of tuning forks:
A linear motion affects all the forks the same, while a rotation affects them differently, and the readout and processing electronics used that to make measurements.
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
$endgroup$
It depends a bit on what technology you’re referring to.
The original inertial navigation systems used rotating gyroscopes. Those were and are expensive.
Modern MEMS inertial navigation systems (example) don’t use rotating gyroscopes. Instead, they get both linear and angular acceleration (and angular rate) information from their MEMS accelerometer assemblies. That’s not perfect, degree/hour rates are typical, so other systems (including horizon and sun trackers and magnetometers) are used to make long term corrections.
The MEMS systems are based on tiny vibrating elements. Translational and angular motion affect the vibration in various ways, which are sensed and read out electronically. This is an early example from Draper Labs which worked like a large array of tuning forks:
A linear motion affects all the forks the same, while a rotation affects them differently, and the readout and processing electronics used that to make measurements.
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
answered 1 hour ago
Bob JacobsenBob Jacobsen
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
7,67016 silver badges37 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
David Bermejo is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
David Bermejo is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
David Bermejo is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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