Navigation for Small Spacecraft in Deep Space Using Pulsars
Talk By Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, PhD., Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Signal of Opportunity Navigation for Small Spacecraft in Deep Space
Spacecraft navigation outside of geosynchronous orbit (GEO) presents an ongoing challenge. Current navigational techniques rely on Earth-based tracking, particularly through NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). Navigation via the DSN is both fundamentally limited in terms of accuracy, as well as practically limited in terms of availability. Navigation via naturally occurring signals of opportunity, such as those produced by pulsars, quasars, and gamma-ray bursts, is proposed as an alternative navigation technique that could augment or eventually replace navigation via the DSN. This technique involves making range measurements based on the time-difference of arrival (TDOA) of a signal at the user and another location, usually either another cooperating user or a fixed reference point. Estimating the value of the TDOA is challenging, particularly because the signals in question are usually extremely weak. In this talk we describe algorithms for generating a 6 degree of freedom of freedom position, navigation and timing solution in deep space by measuring the time and angle of arrival of x-rays from pulsars. We also demonstrate their performance by post-processing data collected by x-ray detectors on the Suzaku and Chandra missions.
Date and Time
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- Date: 09 Jun 2021
- Time: 07:00 PM to 08:00 PM
- All times are (UTC-05:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
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- Co-sponsored by Stephen Merriman
Speakers
Demoz of Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Signal of Opportunity Navigation for Small Spacecraft in Deep Space
Biography:
Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, PhD.
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Demoz Gebre-Egziabher is a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. At the University of Minnesota, he teaches courses in aerospace systems and directs a research lab focusing on the design of multi-sensor navigation and attitude determination systems for aerospace vehicles. He is a member of the IEEE and has served as an associate for navigation for the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION) and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). From 1990 to 1996 he was an officer in the United States Navy where he served as a system engineer on the staff of the Naval Sea Systems Command division of naval reactors in Washington D.C.
Dr. Gebre-Egziabher holds a B.S in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona, a M.S in Mechanical Engineering from the George Washington University and a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He is a registered professional engineer (mechanical engineering) and licensed private pilot (with an instrument rating).
Email:
Address:Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55455
Agenda
Talk will be given over Zoom on June 9th, 7 - 8 PM. See Zoom instructions below.