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Front. Inform. Technol. Electron. Eng.  2013, Vol. 14 Issue (6): 425-432    DOI: 10.1631/jzus.C1200291
    
Feasibility analysis for attitude estimation based on pulsar polarization measurement
Nan Luo, Lu-ping Xu, Hua Zhang, Qiang Xie
School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
Feasibility analysis for attitude estimation based on pulsar polarization measurement
Nan Luo, Lu-ping Xu, Hua Zhang, Qiang Xie
School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
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摘要： One of the important characteristics of pulsar radiation is polarization. It is considered not only as a probe for recognizing the structure of a magnetic field, but also as a lighthouse for estimating spacecraft attitude via orientation information between the pulsar and the detector. Although polarization of a pulsar has been studied for decades, until recently applications to determination of spacecraft attitude have been seldom reported. This paper deals with analysis of the feasibility of applying polarization information to attitude estimation. The stability factor (SFR) and observation fluctuation factor (OFR) are introduced to analyze the stability of a pulsar’s polarized position angle. Based on European Pulsar Network (EPN) data, several simulated instances are used to demonstrate that the accuracy requirement of attitude determination can be met via polarization measurement. The SFR of a pulsar is evaluated using simulated polarization data, and the OFR is used to analyze the relationship between fluctuation extent and observation time. Simulation results show that the polarized measurement of candidate pulsars PSR B0470-28 and PSR B2319+60 reaches the specification for attitude determination.
关键词： Pulsar;  Polarization;  Attitude determination;  Stable factor    
Abstract: One of the important characteristics of pulsar radiation is polarization. It is considered not only as a probe for recognizing the structure of a magnetic field, but also as a lighthouse for estimating spacecraft attitude via orientation information between the pulsar and the detector. Although polarization of a pulsar has been studied for decades, until recently applications to determination of spacecraft attitude have been seldom reported. This paper deals with analysis of the feasibility of applying polarization information to attitude estimation. The stability factor (SFR) and observation fluctuation factor (OFR) are introduced to analyze the stability of a pulsar’s polarized position angle. Based on European Pulsar Network (EPN) data, several simulated instances are used to demonstrate that the accuracy requirement of attitude determination can be met via polarization measurement. The SFR of a pulsar is evaluated using simulated polarization data, and the OFR is used to analyze the relationship between fluctuation extent and observation time. Simulation results show that the polarized measurement of candidate pulsars PSR B0470-28 and PSR B2319+60 reaches the specification for attitude determination.
Key words: Pulsar    Polarization    Attitude determination    Stable factor
收稿日期: 2012-10-15 出版日期: 2013-06-04
CLC:  TP2  
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Nan Luo
Lu-ping Xu
Hua Zhang
Qiang Xie

引用本文:

Nan Luo, Lu-ping Xu, Hua Zhang, Qiang Xie. Feasibility analysis for attitude estimation based on pulsar polarization measurement. Front. Inform. Technol. Electron. Eng., 2013, 14(6): 425-432.

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http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/fitee/CN/10.1631/jzus.C1200291    或    http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/fitee/CN/Y2013/V14/I6/425

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[2] Yi-hu Xu, Myoung-Seob Lim. Spectrum sensing using multiple dual polarization antennas for cognitive radio systems in microcell environments[J]. Front. Inform. Technol. Electron. Eng., 2013, 14(10): 792-798.