WSEAS Transactions on Systems and Control
Print ISSN: 1991-8763, E-ISSN: 2224-2856
Volume 20, 2025
Two-Stage Linear and Nonlinear Kalman Filters for Calibration of
Magnetometers in Orbit
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Abstract: To accurately estimate satellite dynamics and control orientation, the magnetometer's scale factor
and bias must be established. The magnetometer scale factor and bias change due to temperature variation and
thermal deformation of the structure, creating a fairly significant magnitude error that needs to be minimized to
meet mission requirements. This work proposes a two-step method employing linear and nonlinear Kalman
filters to determine orbital magnetometer biases and scale factors. To accurately estimate satellite dynamics and
control attitude, the magnetometer's scale factor and bias must be established. In this work, the bias error and
scale factor error are treated as similar equivalent bias noise, and this bias noise is removed from magnetometer
measurements.
Keywords:
magnetometer, calibration, Kalman filtering, satellite, attitude determination, scale factor, estimation
Pages: 254-261
DOI: 10.37394/23203.2025.20.28