Simulation Toolkit for Onboard Optimal Maneuver Planning in Active Debris Removal Using Angles-Only Navigation

Abstract

During the transition from ground-based to onboard relative navigation and ensuing autonomous rendezvous, the relative state estimations are computed from a low-volume/mass, power saving, and low-cost optical/infrared camera’s observations, active space debris removal faces the drawback of rangeobservability problem using angles-only navigation. To sever the conceptual design of Clean Space One project better as well as push forward the angles-only navigation research, integrating the latest techniques both published in papers and developed ourselves, a Matlab based simulation toolkit is developed. The developed tool can be used as angles-only navigation algorithms test bed as well as optimal maneuver profiles designer. A detailed analysis is given deriving the novel closed-loop linear covariance using SRUKF measurements filtering scheme as well as covariance triggered onboard optimal maneuver profiles planning method and showing how these results correlate to past methods and missions, and how they could potentially influences future ones.