SUN SENSORS

UN SENSORS CLASSIFICATION

• Analog: – Differential Sun Sensors; – Quadrant Sun Sensors. Can measure both βs and αs , thus θ and φ.
• Sun Presence Detectors. They give in output 1 or 0, to tell if the Sun is in the plane defined by the sensor or not.
• Digital: – Gray Code Sun Sensors. They can measure only one between αs or βs . – CCD/APS based Sun Sensors. They can
measure θ and φ.
• Sun angle (spin stabilized): – A pair of two-slit Sun sensors; – One two-slit Sun sensor + one Gray-code Sun sensor (T-
configuration).
• Sun line (three-axis stabilized): – CCD/APS Sun sensors; – Quadrant Sun Sensors; – Differential Sun Sensors; – Two T-
configurations.

The Sun Sensors can be classified by their:

measures: (1-axis Sun sensors: provide the measure of 1 angles like β angles of celestial sphere; 2-axis Sun sensors: provide the
measure of 2 angles and we can univocally determining the Sun direction in the external reference frame; we can identify a
direction in the IRF (as latitude ecc…; Sun presence detector (tells us if the sun is present on the Field of View).
Output: Analog output and digital output.
Sensing Element (elem di rilevamento): Solar Cells (based of photo-voltaic effect, can be both digital and analog); CCD/APS: (a
pixel arrays)

Sun sensors have two main purposes: provide a measurement of Sun orientation; detect the Sun presence.

Considering the celestial sphere center of the satellites and considering the direction of spin axis (A), the direction of the Sun (S)
and the direction of the Earth (E); we are interested to identify the direction of the Sun respect Spin axis direction (β angle), but
if we are interested to the satellite orientation with respect to an external reference frame β doesn’t give us a unique
identification of the orientation.

We always have at least one Sun sensor deployed on board of the satellite, because:
the Sun has high brightness with respect to the sky background, because of this is easily detectable;
the Sun has a small angular radius (for an Earth-orbiting satellite it has an aperture of ∼ 0.5◦).
That’s important because when we measure the satellite orientation with respect to the Sun direction, we are approximating the Sun
as a point on the celestial sphere. Since the angular radius of the Sun is small, the error due to this approximation is really
small.

Electrical circuit SUN SENSOR:

The main sensing elements of SS are the solar cell, which convert sunlight into electricity through the photovoltaic effect (almost are
only semiconductor materials in form of N-P Junctions).
The electrical power law is: P = IV , that it is the area under I-V plane (more intensity solar more shifted will be the curve and more will
be the curve).
Without illumination, the electrical characteristic of the solar cell is the same of a large diode (see figure since there is not
passage of current. Then, when the sunlight illuminates the solar cell, the electrical characteristic shifts, generating electrical
power.

In the short-circuit condition we have a very high current (short-circuit current) Isc and a very small voltage (which is zero in
the ideal condition).
In the open-circuit condition there is ideally no current and there is a given value of the voltage Voc.
These two conditions can be obtained in practice by changing the value of the resistance R.
The short-circuit can be obtained with a very low resistance, while the open-circuit can be obtained with a very high
resistance.
These working modes are identified by the angle α so defined: tan α=1 /R . When R→0 (low resistence) α → π (Short circuit
condition) and R ≫1 α → 0(Open circuit condition).
In a solar cell used in a solar array we want to maximize the obtained power, so that the working point will be the combination
of I and V that maximize the power. I – V curve is very influenced by the temperature, in particular given a reference
temperature T 0:
If T > T 0 the V oc highly decreases while the I sc slowly increases;
If T < T 0 the V oc highly increases while the I sc slowly decreases;
[
I – V curve folloquing this expression: I ( V ) = J SC 0 ( T , t )+ b (T , t ) ( 1−e
C ( T ,t ) V
) ] Ai cosθ .
(where: Jsc0 is the short-circuit current density; Ai is the illuminated area of the sensor; the independant variable T is the
temperature while t is the time; B(T, t) and C(T, t) are constants, typically related to the material and the technology of the
solar cell)

We can obtain I sc by I (V =0) e V oc by I ( V ) =0 :

( C ( T1 ,t ) ) ln ¿ ¿ ( )
I sc
I sc =J sc 0 ( T ,t ) A i cos θ∧V cs = and we can obtain cos θ= called Measurement Model for
J sc 0 ( T , t ) Ai
a single solar cell.
Parameters to consider are the BOL (beginning of life efficiency) and EOL (end of life): the solar cell degrades with time, reducing
its efficiency.

TWO CELLS MEASUREMENT MODEL

We are interested to knowing the direction of the Sun, we are interested in computing the angle αS, which only depends by the
short-circuit currents of the two solar cellsIsc1 = Jsc01(T, t)Ai1 cos(α0 + αS)
Isc2 = Jsc02(T, t)Ai2 cos(α0 − αS)

We can then subtract the two short-circuit current equation and obtain sin α s=
( ∆ I sc 12
2 J sc 0 ( T , t ) Ai sin α 0 ) which is the TWO-CELLS

MEASUREMENT MODEL.

DIFFERENTIAL ANALOG SUN SENSORS (DSS)

αS alone is not sufficient to univocally define the Sun direction. To do it we have to estimate two angles. We
have to use a Differential Analog Sun Sensor (DSS), which is a 3D sensor with 5 solar cells. In the reference frame
xs-ys-zs is reported the direction of the Sun S, which forms an angle θ with the
boresight direction of the sensor zs.
We can see that the direction of the Sun S has a projection on the plane ys-zs Syz, which forms the angle
αS with zs, and a projection on the plane xs-zs Sxz, which forms the angle βS with zs.
The angles between the projections Syz and Sxz in these planes and the Sun direction S are respectively βS′ and

αS′ . The angle that the projection of S on the xs-ys plane makes with the xs axis is called φ .

We have four angles, αS , βS , αS′ and βS′ all related one another, and the two angles that identify the Sun direction, θ and φ , in
tan α s
which we are interested. To univocally estimate the Sun direction S, we have to calculate φ : tan φ= e
tan β s
tan α s
tanθ= (*)
sin φ
From this equation, we can see that we have to calculate both α s , β s (The procedure is present at paragraph 6.4.1 on book). We
can obtain, from short-circuit currents of these four solar cells:
∆ I sc 12
Q1=¿ =2sin α 0 tan α s
I sc 5
∆ I sc 34
Q2=¿ =2 sin α 0 tan β s
I sc 5
From these we can compute the angles α s and β S and with these 2 angles we can compute φ , θ as shown in equations (*).

FIELD OF VIEW
The Field of View of this type of sensors is more complicated because we have to consider that all five
solar cells have to be illuminated.
I sc 2
Neglecting the mathematical treatment, we’ll obtain Q 1= =cos α 0 +sin α 0 tan α s
I sc 5
DSS characteristics are:

 Mass = 190 g;
 Dimensions = 110 x 110 x 30 mm^3
 FOV = hemispherical;
 Power consumption = passive;
 Operating temperatures - 80◦C to +90−◦C;
 The detectors are radiation hardened with 300 micron thick cover-glass;
 It has two cells for each side (redundancy).

QUADRANT SUN SENSORS

These sensors are two-axis sensors consisting of 4 solar cells in a plane. Each solar cell is a square of side d.
The cells are placed in way to form a square on the plane xs-ys called (QUADRANT DETECTOR).
On the sensor plane, at a distance h (focal length) there is another plane, with a square hole of side d, centered on the origin of
the xs-ys-zs reference frame. This plane is called DIAPHRAGM. The diaphragm forms a mask which partially shadows the 4 solar
cells.
When the Sun direction is aligned with the boresight direction of the sensor zs, the illuminated part of the
sensor is the trace of the square hole. In this case each solar cell is illuminated of 1/4 of its total area.
When the Sun direction is not aligned with the boresight direction, the illuminated square moves along the
quadrant detector. In this case the illuminated area for each solar cell will be different, depending on the
Sun direction.
Studying how this illuminated square moves on the quadrant detector, we can measure the Sun direction
with respect to the boresight direction of the sensor.
The quadrant detector corresponds to the focal plane of the sensor.
From I sc measurements we can obtain α s e β s from which we can evaluate the Sun line direction.
Measuring the short circuit currents we obtain the quantities Q1 e Q2, from which we can obtain the
estimate of α s e β s , thus the Sun line direction.
tan α s tan β s
Q 1= Q 2=
tan α s , max tan β s , max
Regarding the Field of View, we must consider that both αS,max and βS,max are defined by the geometry of the sensor, thus the
FOV will be FOV=α s , max∗β (s ,max)

SUN PRESENCE DETECTORS Sun presence detectors detect the presence of the Sun in a particular direction. They are digital
sensors: they are defined as digital because their output is 1 or 0 (the Sun is on the field of view of the sensor or not). They do not
provide a digital measurement of the Sun direction.

These sensors are very light and are passive and there are two types of them:
Shadow-bar Sun sensors; Two-slit Sun sensors.

SHADOW-BAR SUN SENSORS Shadow bar Sun sensors are composed by two solar cells placed symmetrically with respect to a
symmetry axis. When the Sun is on the boresight direction of the sensor, i.e. the symmetry axis, the illumination conditions of
the two cells, i.e. their outputs, are equal: in this case the difference between the two outputs is zero. When the Sun is not on
the boresight direction, the two cells will have different illumination conditions their outputs will be different.

Two-slit Sun sensors are composed by a solid box with two slits. At the bottom of the box there is the solar cell. The two slits are
aligned with the plane ys-zs of the sensor. When the Sun lies on the plane ys-zs , the sunlight goes through the two slits and
impacts on the solar cell. In this case the solar cell gives an output voltage of 1. If the Sun is not on the plane ys-zs , its
illumination passes through the first slit but then impacts on the box and, since it doesn’t pass through the second slit, it won’t
reach the solar cell. In this case the output of the cell will be null.

It is possible to use these sensors to measure the Sun’s direction. It is possible to define their FOV and it depends on how the

box is built. We have that  tan α s = (

1 L1 + L 2
)
h 2
DIGITAL SUN SENSORS
Digital Sun sensors can be more accurate than other sensors since they do not exploit the cosine behaviour of the short circuit
current of the solar cell. These sensors digitalize the measurement of the Sun direction given by the output signal of the solar
cells. We’ll examine two types of digital Sun sensors: • Gray-code Sun sensors; • CCD/APS-based Sun sensors.

the most commonly used Sun sensors are : CCD/APS-based Sun sensors.
For these sensors, the sensitive plane is not the solar cells, but a focal plane - which is a matrix of pixels - placed in the bottom of
the sensor. Over the focal plane there is a mask, which is an opaque plane with a certain number of holes in it.
When the sunlight impacts on the mask, the Sun illumination goes through the holes and illuminates some pixels on the focal
plane. Here, in an ideal condition, we see a circle whose centroid identifies the Sun direction. The circle totally covers some of
the pixels, while the others are partially in shadow. What we do is that we concentrate the illumination of the pixels at their
center: we are assuming partially illuminated pixels as fully illuminated ones.