An Accurate and Efficient Gaussian Fit Centroiding Algorithm for Star Trackers

Abstract

This paper presents a novel centroiding algorithm for star trackers. The proposed algorithm, which is referred to as the Gaussian Grid algorithm, fits an elliptical Gaussian function to the measured pixel data and derives explicit expressions to determine the centroids of the stars. In tests, the algorithm proved to yield accuracy comparable to that of the most accurate existing algorithms, while being significantly less computationally intensive. This reduction in computational cost allows to improve performance by acquiring the attitude estimates at a higher rate or use more stars in the estimation algorithms. It is also a valuable contribution to the expanding field of small satellites, where it could enable low-cost platforms to have highly accurate attitude estimation.status: publishe