A Compensation Strategy for Cases of Divergence in Angle of Arrival Measurements Due to Satellite Attitude
Marcello ASCIOLLA, Angela CRATERE, Francesco DELL’OLIO
Abstract. The study is on satellite systems for localization purposes. The platform of interest is a satellite system equipped with antenna array payload able to perform Angle of Arrival (AOA) measurements. The framework is on the possible interaction and mutual influence between two subsystems: the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) and a payload composed of 3D antenna arrays. The paper wants to investigate the effects of the attitude of the satellite on the payload measurement and it focuses on the propagation of the attitude errors on the payload measurement error. In particular, it has been observed that in some relative configurations it is possible to have an unwanted divergence of the measurements: its prediction and compensation is of crucial interest both for Earth scanning operations and interplanetary missions. The methodology follows the analytical formulation of the problem of geolocation, through the measurement equation and performance metrics based on Cramér Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for its variance. Then, combining the attitude of the satellite with the relative position of the emitter of signal with respect to the satellite platform, the reveal of cases of divergence is exposed. The novelty of the study is on the proposal of a scheme of compensation for such cases of divergence in order to obtain a reliable measurement considering only the data available onboard. The study is of interest for a set of future algorithms for miniaturized payload systems composed of sensors based on antenna arrays. Potential target satellite missions are on, but not limited to, search and rescue, telecommunication, and spectrum monitoring of jamming signals for civil aviation in E1/L1 GNSS band. The exemplary use-case scenario presented in the study involves an emitter of electromagnetic waves on the surface of the Earth and a satellite system with tri-axial antenna array as sensing equipment. Despite the toy model of the study is on Earth missions, the approach and results are generalizable and of interest also for any manned and unmanned interplanetary missions that have to deal with the influence of ADCS on 3D antenna array payloads.
Keywords
Angle of Arrival (AOA), Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS), Attitude, Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), Error Divergence, Error Compensation, Error Modelling, Satellite, Space Systems
Published online 7/20/2026, 5 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Marcello ASCIOLLA, Angela CRATERE, Francesco DELL’OLIO, A Compensation Strategy for Cases of Divergence in Angle of Arrival Measurements Due to Satellite Attitude, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 1153-1157, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-198
The article was published as article 198 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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