eb293bf5-bc99-4418-b415-6fa36842930120240813082643445wseas:wseasmdt@crossref.orgMDT DepositWSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS AND CONTROL2224-28561991-876310.37394/23203http://wseas.org/wseas/cms.action?id=4073117202411720241910.37394/23203.2024.19https://wseas.com/journals/sac/2024.phpOrhanKirciFaculty of Astronautical and Aeronautical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, TURKEYChingizHajiyevFaculty of Astronautical and Aeronautical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, TURKEYThe aim of this article is to investigate the accuracy of vector measurement-based attitude determination methods for a nanosatellite. Measurements from the horizon sensor and magnetometer are therefore modeled on the body frame. The triaxial Attitude Determination (TRIAD) technique is a widely used and effective method to determine the attitude of a nanosatellite. In this study, the TRIAD method is used with three different approaches to obtain the smallest orientation error of a nanosatellite equipped with magnetometers and horizon sensors. Analysis of covariance is conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the attitude determination process. Three modifications of the TRIAD algorithm were tested for accuracy and the most accurate was determined. The analysis provides information on the sources of error and uncertainty associated with the measurement and estimation process. This information is used to improve system performance and the accuracy of attitude outputs.8132024813202424024626https://wseas.com/journals/sac/2024/a525103-022(2024).pdf10.37394/23203.2024.19.26https://wseas.com/journals/sac/2024/a525103-022(2024).pdfJ. R. Wertz, “Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control,” Springer Dordrecht, 2012. 10.1007/978-1-4939-0802-8F.L. Markley and J.L. Crassidis, “Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control,” Springer, 2014. 10.1007/978-3-662-44785-7_22V. V. Unhelkar and H. B. Hablani, “Spacecraft Attitude Determination with Sun Sensors, Horizon Sensors and Gyros: Comparison of Steady-State Kalman Filter and Extended Kalman Filter,” in Advances in Estimation, Navigation, and Spacecraft Control, D. Choukroun, Y. Oshman, J. Thienel and M. Idan (Eds.) Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2015, pp.413– 437. 10.1201/9781351248839-13C. Hajiyev, H.E. Soken, “Fault Tolerant Attitude Estimation for Small Satellites,” Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351248839. 10.3390/s22229002J.J.R. Critchley-Marrows, X. Wu, and I.H. Cairns, “Treatment of Extended Kalman Filter Implementations for the Gyroless Star Tracker,” Sensors, Vol. 22, 9002, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22229002. 10.31763/ijrcs.v3i3.988T. Mekky and A. Habib, “Magnetometer-Only Kalman Filter Based Algorithms for High Accuracy Spacecraft Attitude Estimation (A Comparative Analysis),” International Journal of Robotics and Control Systems, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2023, pp. 433-448. 10.1007/s42401-023-00221-wT. Mekky and A. Habib, “Three-Axis HighAccuracy Spacecraft Attitude Estimation Via Sequential Extended Kalman Filtering of Single-Axis Magnetometer Measurements,” Aerospace Systems, Published online: April, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-023- 00221-w. H.D. Black, “A Passive System for Determining the Attitude of a Satellite,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1964, pp. 1350-1351. 10.2514/3.19717M.D. Shuster, and S.D. Oh, “Three-Axis Attitude Determination from Vector Observations,” Journal of Guidance and Control, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1981, pp. 70-77. 10.2514/2.4025I.Y. Bar-Itzhack, and R.R. Harman, “Optimized TRIAD Algorithm for Attitude Determination,” Journal of Guidance and Control, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1997, pp. 208-211. M.D. Shuster, "The Optimization of TRIAD," The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 55, No 2, 2007, pp. 245–257. 10.1515/arsa-2017-0005Zhu, X., Ma, M., & Zhou, Z. (2017). An Optimized TRIAD Algorithm for Attitude Determination, Artificial Satellites, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp.41-47, DOI: 10.1515/arsa-2017- 0005. 10.3390/s21217361A. Finance, C. Dufour, T. Boutéraon, A. Sarkissian, A. Mangin, P. Keckhut and M. Meftah, “In-Orbit Attitude Determination of the UVSQ-SAT CubeSat Using TRIAD and MEKF Methods,” Sensors, Vol. 21, 2021, 7361, https://doi.org/10.3390/s21217361. 10.1109/acc.2007.4283031P. Sekhavat, Q. G. Q. Gong, and I. M. Ross, “NPSAT1 parameter estimation using unscented Kalman filtering,” 2007 American Control Conference., New York, USA, pp. 4445-4451, 2007.