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Article

Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space

by
Siyao Wu
1,2,
Ting Sun
1,2,*,
Fei Xing
3,
Haonan Liu
1,2,
Kang Yang
1,2,
Jiahui Song
1,2,
Shijie Yu
1,2 and
Lianqing Zhu
1
1
School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
2
Laboratory of Intelligent Microsystems, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
3
Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2025, 25(14), 4341; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341
Submission received: 11 June 2025 / Revised: 5 July 2025 / Accepted: 10 July 2025 / Published: 11 July 2025

Abstract

When hypersonic vehicles fly in near space, the flow field near the optical window leads to light displacement, jitter, blurring, and energy attenuation of the star sensor. This ultimately affects the imaging quality and navigation accuracy. In order to investigate the impact of aerodynamic optical effects on imaging, the fourth-order Runge–Kutta and the fourth-order Adams–Bashforth–Moulton (ABM) predictor-corrector methods are used for ray tracing on the density data. A comparative analysis of the imaging quality results from the two methods reveals their respective strengths and limitations. The influence of the optical system is included in the image quality calculations to make the results more representative of real data. The effects of altitude, velocity, and angle of attack on the imaging quality are explored when the optical window is located at the tail of the vehicle. The results show that altitude significantly affects imaging results, and higher altitudes reduce the impact of the flow field on imaging quality. When the optical window is located at the tail of the vehicle, the relationship between velocity and offset is no longer simply linear. This research provides theoretical support for analyzing the imaging quality and navigation accuracy of a star sensor when a vehicle is flying at hypersonic speeds in near space.
Keywords: star sensor; aero-optical effect; ray tracing; star point offsets; image quality star sensor; aero-optical effect; ray tracing; star point offsets; image quality

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Wu, S.; Sun, T.; Xing, F.; Liu, H.; Yang, K.; Song, J.; Yu, S.; Zhu, L. Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space. Sensors 2025, 25, 4341. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341

AMA Style

Wu S, Sun T, Xing F, Liu H, Yang K, Song J, Yu S, Zhu L. Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space. Sensors. 2025; 25(14):4341. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wu, Siyao, Ting Sun, Fei Xing, Haonan Liu, Kang Yang, Jiahui Song, Shijie Yu, and Lianqing Zhu. 2025. "Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space" Sensors 25, no. 14: 4341. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341

APA Style

Wu, S., Sun, T., Xing, F., Liu, H., Yang, K., Song, J., Yu, S., & Zhu, L. (2025). Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space. Sensors, 25(14), 4341. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341

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