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Feasibility analysis for attitude estimation based on pulsar polarization measurement

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Abstract

One of the important characteristics of pulsar radiation is polarization. It is considered not only as a probe for recognizing the structure of a magnetic field, but also as a lighthouse for estimating spacecraft attitude via orientation information between the pulsar and the detector. Although polarization of a pulsar has been studied for decades, until recently applications to determination of spacecraft attitude have been seldom reported. This paper deals with analysis of the feasibility of applying polarization information to attitude estimation. The stability factor (SFR) and observation fluctuation factor (OFR) are introduced to analyze the stability of a pulsar’s polarized position angle. Based on European Pulsar Network (EPN) data, several simulated instances are used to demonstrate that the accuracy requirement of attitude determination can be met via polarization measurement. The SFR of a pulsar is evaluated using simulated polarization data, and the OFR is used to analyze the relationship between fluctuation extent and observation time. Simulation results show that the polarized measurement of candidate pulsars PSR B0470-28 and PSR B2319+60 reaches the specification for attitude determination.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, China

    Nan Luo, Lu-ping Xu, Hua Zhang & Qiang Xie

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  1. Nan Luo
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  2. Lu-ping Xu
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  3. Hua Zhang
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  4. Qiang Xie
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Correspondence to Nan Luo.

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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61172318) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Nos. K5051302015 and K5051302040)

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Luo, N., Xu, Lp., Zhang, H. et al. Feasibility analysis for attitude estimation based on pulsar polarization measurement. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. C 14, 425–432 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.C1200291

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