ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

Direction Cosine Matrix

I. The 3-2-1 rotation sequence

I.1. Definition

One of the most common rotation sequence used in the aerospace field is the yaw-pitch-roll
sequence. The vehicle is first rotated about its Z-axis by an angle ψ (yaw). Then, it is rotated
about its new Y-axis by angle θ (pitch). Finally, the manoeuvre is completed by a rotation
about the new X-axis by an angle φ (roll).
ψ, θ and φ are the Euler angles.
The Direction Cosine Matrix (DCM) for each rotation individually is defined below:

Euler-angle rotation sequence [Brown]

⎡ cosψ sinψ 0⎤
Yaw: RZ (ψ ) = ⎢⎢− sinψ cosψ 0⎥⎥ = R1
⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦
⎡cosθ 0 − sin θ ⎤
Pitch: RY (θ ) = ⎢⎢ 0 1 0 ⎥⎥ = R2
⎢⎣ sin θ 0 cosθ ⎥⎦
⎡1 0 0 ⎤
Roll: RX (φ ) = ⎢0 cos φ sin φ ⎥⎥ = R3
⎢
⎢⎣0 − sin φ cos φ ⎥⎦

I.2. DCM of a 3-2-1 rotation sequence

Hence, for a yaw-pitch-roll (of angles ψ,θ,φ respectively) rotation sequence, the Direction
Cosine Matrix is:

R(ψ ,θ , φ ) = R3 R2 R1 (the order is VERY important)

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ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

⎡1 0 0 ⎤ ⎡cosθ 0 − sin θ ⎤ ⎡ cosψ sinψ 0⎤

R(ψ ,θ , φ ) = DCM = ⎢⎢0 cos φ sin φ ⎥⎥ ⎢⎢ 0 1 0 ⎥⎥ ⎢⎢− sinψ cosψ 0⎥⎥
⎢⎣0 − sin φ cos φ ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ sin θ 0 cosθ ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦

⎡ cosθ cosψ cosθ sinψ − sin θ ⎤

⎢
DCM = ⎢− cos φ sinψ + sin φ sin θ cosψ cos φ cosψ + sin φ sin θ sinψ sin φ cosθ ⎥⎥
⎢⎣ sin φ sinψ + cos φ sin θ cosψ − sin φ cosψ + cos φ sin θ sinψ cos φ cosθ ⎥⎦

TRY IT: Develop the equation above

Note that each rotation sequence has its own corresponding DCM. Therefore a 3-1-3 rotation
sequence will have a different DCM.

II. The 3-1-3 rotation sequence

II.1. Definition

Orbit plane and reference frame [Griffin & French]

To obtain the frame defining the orbit plane from the reference frame, it is necessary to apply
a succession of rotation to the latter. First, the reference frame is rotated through W (the right
ascension of ascending node) about Z. Then, it is rotated around the new X-axis by an angle i
(the inclination), and finally rotated around the new Z-azis (parallel to the angular momentum
vector) by an angle w corresponding to the argument of perigee.

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ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

Mathematically, this is expressed as:

⎡ cos Ω sin Ω 0⎤
RZ (Ω) = ⎢⎢− sin Ω cos Ω 0⎥⎥ = R1
⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦
⎡1 0 0 ⎤
R X (i) = ⎢0 cos i sin i ⎥⎥ = R2
⎢
⎢⎣0 − sin i cos i ⎥⎦
⎡ cos ω sin ω 0⎤
RZ (ω ) = ⎢⎢− sin ω cos ω 0⎥⎥ = R3
⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦

And the complete transformation is:

⎡ cos ω sin ω 0⎤ ⎡1 0 0 ⎤ ⎡ cos Ω sin Ω 0⎤

RP←I = ⎢− sin ω cos ω 0⎥ ⎢0 cos i sin i ⎥⎥ ⎢⎢− sin Ω cos Ω 0⎥⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦ ⎢⎣0 − sin i cos i ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦

⎡ cos Ω cos ω − sin Ω sin ω cos i sin Ω cos ω + cos Ω sin ω cos i sin ω sin i ⎤
RP← I = ⎢− cos Ω sin ω − sin Ω cos ω cos i − sin Ω sin ω + cos Ω cos ω cos i cos ω sin i ⎥⎥
⎢
⎢⎣ sin Ω sin i − cos Ω sin i cos i ⎥⎦

IMPORTANT
Note that the matrix above is the transpose of Eq. (4.56) from Griffin & French which is OK
as they corresponds to inverse transformations. In fact, they are both correct. Any confusion is
due to the peculiar way that Griffin & French handle matrix multiplications and operations.
If you apply the more traditional way of handling matrices (as shown in Appendix A) to Eq.
(4.55) you will not obtain the same results as Eq. (4.56)!!!
I would therefore recommend that you stick to conventional notation and therefore rewrite
any matrices you encounter to make sure it uses the normal convention (used by Matlab for
instance).

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ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

III. Using a Direction Cosine Matrix

The Direction Cosine Matrix transforming a vector in the B frame into the same vector in the
I frame (and more generally transforming frame B into frame I) is denoted by:

V )I = RI ←B V )B

The relation between the DCM transforming B into I is the inverse (or transpose) of the DCM
transforming I into B:

RI ← B = R B−1← I = R BT ← I
⎡X ⎤ ⎡X ⎤
⎢Y ⎥ = R ⎢Y ⎥
⎢ ⎥ I ←B ⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ Z ⎥⎦ I ⎢⎣ Z ⎥⎦ B

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ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

Bibliography

Griffin, Michael, D., and French, James, R., “Space Vehicle Design”, Second Edition, AIAA
Education Series, Reston, VA, USA, 2004.

Brown, Charles, D., “Elements of Spacecraft Design”, AIAA Education Series, Reston, VA,
USA, 2002.

Sidi, Marcel, J., “Spacecraft Dynamics & Control”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK, 1997.
(A reference book in the field of spacecraft dynamics & control)

Zipfel, Peter, H., “Modelling and Simulation of Aerospace Vehicle Dynamics”, AIAA
Education Series, AIAA, Reston, VA, USA, 2000.
(A very exhaustive book on rigid body dynamics)

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ISAE – ITA Course 1 Orbit Mechanics DCM Handout

Appendix A – Matrix Multiplication

⎡X ⎤ ⎡a b c ⎤⎡ X ⎤ ⎡aX B + bYB + cZ B ⎤
⎢ Y ⎥ = ⎢d e f ⎥ ⎢ Y ⎥ = ⎢⎢dX B + eYB + fZ B ⎥⎥
⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢⎣ Z ⎥⎦ I ⎢⎣ g h i ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ Z ⎥⎦ B ⎢⎣ gX B + hYB + iZ B ⎥⎦

My personal method to learn/remember how to do it:

- My left hand reads the elements of the rows of the left-hand side matrix from left
to right;
- My right hand reads the elements of columns of the right-hand side matrix (or
vector) from top to bottom;
- Example: I am multiplying a 3x3 matrix with a 3x2 matrix. The element
positioned in the third row, second column of the new matrix (resulting from this
multiplication) are obtained by using the third row of the left-hand side matrix and
the elements of the second column of the right-hand side matrix.

⎡a b c ⎤ ⎡ P X ⎤ ⎡aP + bQ + cR aX + bY + cZ ⎤
⎢d e f ⎥⎥ ⎢⎢Q Y ⎥⎥ = ⎢⎢dP + eQ + fR dX + eY + fZ ⎥⎥
⎢
⎢⎣ g h i ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ R Z ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ gP + hQ + iR gX + hY + iZ ⎥⎦

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