Research on the method of suppressing sun and moon's interference on infrared conical earth sensor

Abstract

To measure the attitude of a satellite, conical earth sensor is usually used on the low- and medium Earth orbit satellite. By detecting the infrared radiation at the horizon using infrared detectors, the conical earth sensor gives a measure of the attitude of a satellite. However, when light from the moon or sun comes into the field of view of the conical earth sensor, it will capture unexpected pulse signals that will induce measurement errors and finally bring about attitude fluctuation of the satellite. In this article, the mechanism of such an interference has been analyzed in depth. By detecting and discriminating the pulse widths of the sun, the moon, and the Earth, a novel method was presented and new software was developed to eliminate the interference. Furthermore, a special ground test platform was set up to verify the proposed method and software. Some real on-orbit flight data were applied as well. Both results showed that the sun and moon’s interference was identified and rejected without corrupting the horizon crossing.