Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS) sensors

Abstract

In this report, I will discuss about the achievements and lessons learnt during this Final Year Project (FYP) that I have worked on with Satellite Research Centre (SaRC) in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The function of a satellite varies due to its mission and attitude determination is one of them. Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS) is a system which focuses on acquiring the position and orientation of the satellite. It is one the most important sections for the satellites to operate and my project mainly focuses on the use of ADCS in satellites. The main objective of my project is to study the sensors’ characteristics and implement calibration software using MATLAB on the sensors to achieve a higher sensing accuracy on the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) – Fine Sun Sensor (FSS). For this research project, the original range of -60 to 60 degrees was reduced to -40 to 40 degree angle to achieve higher sensing accuracy.