Autonomous Navigation Using Natural Landmark Measurements for Earth Orbit Satellites

An autonomous navigation based on the line of sight (LOS) measurements of natural landmarks is presented for earth orbit satellite. Firstly, the natural landmark-based navigation scheme is described with the assumption that the camera is installed on a gimbal mount and the criterion of the landmark visibility is given. Then the mathematical models for landmark-based navigation are established. Based on the established models, the observability analysis is performed and the result shows that the landmark-based navigation system is observable as long as the observed landmarks are not always on the sub-satellite point. The numerical simulation for a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite is performed, which indicate that the proposed navigation method is effective and feasible.