Patent ID: 8321076
Filing Date: 2012-11-27
Classification: B64G

Abstract:
1. A system for controlling an aerospace vehicle using on-line inertia estimation, comprising: a processor on board the aerospace vehicle; an inertia estimator operable on the processor to generate an on-line inertia estimate of the aerospace vehicle using an estimated angular velocity of the aerospace vehicle and a measured or estimated momentum of a control actuator, wherein the inertia estimator generates the inertia estimate by defining a cost function derived from the estimated angular velocity and an estimated momentum of the aerospace vehicle, and wherein the cost function is driven to zero to cause the angular velocity estimate of the aerospace vehicle to converge to a true angular velocity of the aerospace vehicle; and a rate and attitude estimator operable on the processor to determine an angular position and the angular velocity of the aerospace vehicle using an attitude measurement of the aerospace vehicle and the on-line inertia estimate for controlling movement and orientation of the aerospace vehicle without measurement of any rates of rotation of the aerospace vehicle being required.