Patent ID: 6330988
Filing Date: 2001-12-18
Classification: B64G

Abstract:
An apparatus for star catalog equalization to enhance attitude determination comprising:a star tracker for sensing a plurality of positions of a plurality of stars relative to said star tracker, said star tracker having a field of view and generating a plurality of signals corresponding to said plurality of positions in said field of view;a star catalog comprising a primary array having a plurality of steps with a resolution of a declination step size, each step corresponding to a secondary array containing a plurality of declination angles and right ascension angles corresponding to a plurality of positions said plurality of stars; anda controller coupled to said star catalog and said star tracker, said controller having control logic operative to calculate a plurality of desired star locations, associate one of said plurality of stars with each of said plurality of desired star locations to generate an associated plurality of stars, and create an equalized star catalog based on said associated plurality of stars.