Starsensordesignreport

DesignGoals:
Astarsensortocalculateattitudeofasatellitewithanaccuracyof<10.
Weight<100gforuseonsmallsatellites.
Optimizedfor450700nm.

MissionRequirementsandRealization
5starsinfieldwithmagnitude<6.5.
Threepointsarerequiredfororientationbut5starsaretakenforunambiguous
identification.(AppendixA)
FOV:10
We have counted stars in different fields of view overthesky.ChoosinganFOV
of10allowsattitudedeterminationover99.997%ofthesky.(AppendixB)
m
Sensitivitylimitsuchthat6
.5isdetectedata2level.(AppendixA)

OpticsDesign

Fig.1.Opticaldesign

Surf

Radius

Thickness

Glass

Semi
diameter

OBJ

Infinity

Infinity

61.625060

HK9L

15

323.713828

10

15

43.812408

HF13

15

58.496670

15

STO

Infinity

14.089662

90.950408

HF13

15

26.827345

15

26.827345

HK9L

15

70.946491

65.343035

15

IMA

Infinity

7.5

Table1.Lensdata
Opticalpropertiesofthelens
Minimumnumberofstarsinthefield 5stars
Limitingmagnitude 6.5mat2detectionlevel
Fieldofview 10degrees
Focallength 80mm
Entranceaperture 30mm

Wehavechosenalenssystemforcompactnessandeaseofacquisition.
m
The entrance aperture is defined to be 30 mm by the sensitivity limitof6
.5.(Appendix
A)
TheopticsdesignisshowninFig.1andthelensdataislistedinTable1.
We have baselined a tessar lens which is a 4 element design with astopafterthe
second element. This arrangement provides 8 independent variables (6 radii of
curvatures and 2 interelement distances) which are enough to control 7 primary
aberrations (5 third order seidel aberrations and 2 first order chromatic
aberrations).

 The glasses are selected from the CDGM catalog (oneofthecatalogfromaglass

manufacturing company named CDGM) and were chosen in consultation with
manufacturers to ensure their availability. A suitable combination of crown and
flintglassesreduceschromaticaberrations.

Fig.2.Spotdiagram

Fig.3.Encircledenergy

ThespotdiagramisshowninFig.2andtheencircledenergyinFig.3.
We have chosen a detector (see below) with a pixel size of15m.Wedesirethe
PSF tospreadovera3x3pixelboxforaccuratecentroidingimplyingaspotsize~
22m.Atleast50%oftheencircledenergyshouldbewithinthecentralpixel.

Fig.4.Lineandedgegraph(0degreesfield)

Fig.5.Lineandedgegraph(5degreesfield)

The line graph shows the profile of the spot integrated over the wavelength range
(400700nm) in both tangential and sagittal directions (xy directions) on the image
plane. The edge graph shows the integratedprofileofthelinegraph.The suddenjumpin
the edge graph at the centre point shows that most of theincidentenergyisconcentrated
inthecentreofthespot.

Fig.6.Fieldcurvatureanddistortiongraphs

Distortion plays an important role in the star sensor working. It causes the centroids of
the stars in the image to shift from their ideal locations on the imageplane.Thisreflects
in error in attitude estimation by the algorithm. The distortion graph shows that the
maximumdistortionoftheimageduetotheopticsisonly0.1%whichisverysmall.


Detector
We have chosen theStar1000CMOS sensor.Thisis aradiationhardenedsensorthathas
beenusedinmanyspacemissions.
Thedatasheetofthedetectorcanbefound
here
.
With the advent of fast electronic technology it ispossibletoachievethefastupdaterate
of 10Hz for the star sensor. The frames need to be taken at speeds faster than 10Hz to
keep enough time for the image processing. Hencethemaximumintegrationtime forthe
detector is limited by this update rate criterion and is assumed to be 50ms considering
remainingtimeof50msforcalculatingtheattitude.
Thisdetectorwasselectedbecauseofthefollowingcharacteristics:
Rolling shutter and region of interest readout possibility: Useful for fast data
acquisitioninthetrackingmodeofthestarsensor.
Radiationhardening:Giveslonglifetimeforthedetector.

Assembly:
Inthedesignprocedureweneedtoconsidertheopticswhichincludesthelensesandthe
detectorsystemaswellasthemechanicalassemblyforholdingtheopticsandkeepingit
intactintheadverseconditionsofspaceandduringthelaunch.
The optics involves 4 lenses with one cemented doublet inlinefollowedbyadistanceto
thedetectorasshowninFig.1.Toimplementsuch adesignthemechanicalassemblymay
bebuiltinawayasshowninFig.2.

Fig.1.Opticaldesignofthelens

Fig.2.Generallayoutoflensassembly

Here we talk about the lens tube as shown in the stick diagram above. This part of the
assembly is to be manufactured along with the lenses. Thelensesareassembled together
in a lens tube.. The cross section of thelenstubeisasshowninFig.3.TheYaxispoints
to the longitudinal direction and the X and Z axes pointinthetransversedirectionofthe
lens.

Fig.3.CrosssectionofLenstube

Thislenstubefitsonalenstablewhichconnectsthestarsensortothesatellitebody.
The detector goes under the lens table at an adjustable distance and the electronics
including the detector data acquisition fpga and the star sensor controller goes on a pcb
behindthedetector.Abafflepreventsthestraylightreachingthesensor.
Themechanicaldatafortheglassesareasshowninthetable:

Lens

Glass

Lens1

HK9L

Lens2

Radius

Thickness

3
2.52gm/cm

15mm

8mm

3
5654mm

14.2481gm

HF13

3
2.63gm/cm

15mm

8mm

3
5654mm

14.8722gm

Lens3

HF13

3
2.52gm/cm

15mm

4mm

3
2827mm

7.1251gm

Lens4

HK9L

3
2.69gm/cm

15mm

8mm

3
5654mm

15.2115gm

Glass
density

Volume

Mass

 Theparametersofthetubeare:
Material

Aluminium

Density

3
2.7gm/cm

Length

57mm

Thickness
Radius
Volume
Mass

5mm
34mm
3
11800mm

32gm

To hold the lenses and stop at their desired positions and for load bearing there are
spacers and washers respectively. The schematic diagrams of each of themareasshown
inthefiguresfollowed.

Fig.4.Spacer

Fig.5.Washer

 The washer acts as cushions between any two surfaces. The interface between any
surface and the washer is through the 3 protrusions as shown in the figure 5. The ring
between the protrusions flexes when there is a force applied by any surface on theother
and hence attenuates the effect of the applied force. This kind of construction also
compensates for temperaturebasedstressesgeneratedduetotheexpansionorcontraction
ofeachsurfaces.
Given the mass of the glass and the lens tube from the tables above, the value of
maximum force that can act on any glass surface is around 10N considering 20g of
acceleration.
Twoparametersrelatedtothewasheraretobecalculated:
Minimumcontactareaoftheprotrusions
Minimumthicknessofthewashertofacilitateproperflexure
Minimum contact area is found by considering 10N force applied ontheglass,giventhe
knoop hardness of the glass (essentially the measure of the limiting stress at which the
glass shatters). We know the width of the washer which is supposed to be 2mm to hold
theglassesandspacersproperly.Hencethearclengthoftheprotrusioncanbecalculated.
Minimum thickness of the washer is estimated by modelling it as a simply supported
beamsupportedattwoendsandforceactingbetweenthesupports.Themaximum flexure
calculated for given force values defines the minimum clearance the washer shouldgive
fortheflexure.

Fig.6.Simplysupportedbeammodel

Minimumcontactarea
Lengthoftheprotrusion
Minimumthicknessofwasher

8
2
2x10
mm
2
10
mm

2um

These values aresosmall that theyareunrealisablewhichmeanstheforcesdealtwithare

pretty small. Hence the design is made using reasonable values larger than calculated
values.

The washer is to be made with teflontogivesoftcontactswiththeglass.Teflonhasvery

low outgassing properties (TML 0.05% and CVCM 0.00%). To select a sample with
lowoutgassingTML<=1%andCVCM<=0.1%.
The spacer has to bemadewithaluminium.Thisisbecausealuminiumhaslesserthermal
expansioncoefficientthanteflon.
Afterplacementseachelementistobesealedwithaepoxyorurethaneelastomersealant.
The remaining mechanical partoftheassemblyisyettobedesignedbutbecausetheyare
independent of the optics requirements, we can manufacture the design as described
above.

AppendixA

m
RequirementforLimitingmagnitudeof6
.5

Aperturesize
L
=2+5log(D
)
mag
0
L
mag is the limiting magnitude required and D
0 is the minimum entrance aperture of the
m
optics.ThisgivesD
starsbutconsideringthesensitivityofthedetectorwe
0~
10mm for6
keepamarginanddefinetherequiredentranceapertureas25mm.
Detectorsensitivityverification

To verify that the limiting magnitude of optics is

6m
.5 we find the number of

electrons generated in the detector by a

6m
.5 star and compare it with the noise
electrons. This ratio should be atleast 5 times (which is set as threshold) for a
successfuldetectionofastar.

To calculate the number of electrons from a 6

m

.5 star wefindthefluxofthestar
2
in photons/cm
/sec. This is obtained from the definition of magnitude of star
comparedtoVegawhichisa0magstar.

m
m
=2.5log(F
/F
)
1
2
1
2
where F
1 and F
2 are
the fluxes from the stars with magnitudes m
1 and m
2
respectively.
Fluxfrom6.5magstar
Geometricalcollectingarea
Maximumintegrationtime
Transmissionefficiencyofeachlens
Numberoflenses

2
7.0685cm

100ms
90%
4

Totaltransmissionefficiency

65%

QuantumefficiencyxFillfactor

30%

Pixelefficiency

50%

Numberofsignalelectronsgenerated

2
33480photons/cm
/sec

~3500e

Detector noise characteristics as obtained from the datasheet are as shown in the
table:

62.6087e

Temporal
Global

668.5217e

DarkSignal(for50ms)

122.6087e

DarkSignalNonUniformity

1423.304e

PhotoResponseNonUniformity

540.6331e

TotalNoise

1668.518e

3500e

Signalcorrespondingto6.5mag(for
50ms)
SNR

2.1

Hence the signal to noise ratio obtained is 2.1 which is as required and thus the
limitingmagnitudeoftheinstrumentcanbesafelyassumedtobe6.5mag

AppendixB
Fieldofviewcalculationsandskymaps
The fieldofviewofthe opticsrequiredtosatisfythiscriterionof5starsfor6.5mlimiting
sky is 10 degrees. A simulation of different field of views and the percentage of skynot
satisfyingtheconditionisasshownbelow.
FOVindegrees

14

2.8

0.5345

0.0636

10

0.0030