Effectiveness of Attitude Estimation Processing Approaches in Tolerating Radiation Soft Errors

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 70; no. 8; p. 1
• Main Authors: Sartori, Tarso Kraemer Sarzi, Laurini, Luiz Henrique, Fourati, Hassen, Bastos, Rodrigo Possamai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Accelerometers; attitude estimation algorithms; Attitudes; Effectiveness; Engineering Sciences; Gyroscopes; Inertial navigation; inertial navigation system; Kalman filters; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic sensors; Mathematical models; Navigation systems; Neutron radiation; Neutrons; Quaternions; Radiation effects; Radiation-induced soft errors; Single event upsets; Soft errors; Thermal neutrons; Radiation-induced soft errors; attitude estimation algorithms; inertial navigation system
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2023.3284991

This paper compares the radiation-induced soft-error tolerance effectiveness of five different attitude estimation (AE) processing approaches that are classically used in inertial navigation systems (INS) of autonomous things. Results of 14-MeV neutron and thermal neutron radiation testing campaigns indicate that all the AE processing approaches investigated can be critically perturbed by single event upsets (SEUs), yielding inappropriate output data that would place INS unavailable for a while. Moreover, the radiation testing results also suggest Kalman filter-based AE approaches presented better effectivenesses in tolerating SEUs than AE approaches based on gradient descent.