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Volume 26
Issue 11
10.3390/s26113317
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Design, Implementation, and Verification of High-Accuracy Trapezoidal Dual-Axis Sun Sensors for LEO Satellite Attitude Determination

by
Mang Ou-Yang
1,
Ching-I Tai
1,
Guan-Yu Huang
2,
Tse-Yu Cheng
1,
Chang-Hsun Liu
1,
Yu-Siou Liu
1,
Jin-Chern Chiou
1,
Chen-Yu Chan
3,
Tung-Yun Hsieh
3,
Chen-Tsung Lin
3,
Ying-Wen Jan
3,
Chih-Hsun Lin
4 and
Yung-Jhe Yan
1,*
1
Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
2
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
3
Taiwan Space Agency, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
4
Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2026, 26(11), 3317; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26113317 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 27 March 2026 / Revised: 20 May 2026 / Accepted: 21 May 2026 / Published: 23 May 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Sensing, Control, Autonomous and Fault Tolerant Technologies for Satellite Applications)
Versions Notes

Abstract

This paper presents a dual-axis sun sensor employing a cross-slit aperture in conjunction with a four-quadrant trapezoidal photodiode layout. The cross-slit configuration enhances angular sensitivity and resolution, while the trapezoidal photodiode geometry preserves a high signal-to-noise ratio at both near-normal incidence and large Sun angles, maintaining reliable directional discriminability around normal incidence. Compared with conventional quad-triangle photodiode layouts, the proposed trapezoidal geometry avoids the rapid collapse of the illuminated area near the triangular apex at large incidence angles, thereby preserving signal margin near the field-of-view boundary. System-level optical verification demonstrates that, after calibration, the proposed sensor achieves an angular accuracy of ±0.3∘ (3σ). To mitigate performance variations induced by temperature drift, an embedded shielded dummy photodiode is incorporated to provide a dark-current reference for compensation. Unlike compensation approaches that mainly rely on pre-characterization or offline calibration, the embedded shielded dummy photodiode provides an in situ, real-time dark-current reference for compensating for temperature-induced signal drift in the actual operating environment. Experimental results under dark conditions indicate that the embedded dummy photodiode served as a dark-current reference for compensating the temperature-dependent dark-current variation in the active photodiodes, reducing the peak-to-peak dark-signal variation by 96% over a temperature range from 20∘C–120∘C. Furthermore, a pyramid-type sun-sensor architecture is proposed by integrating the dual-axis fine sun sensor with four wide-field coarse sun sensors. This system-level configuration extends the effective Sun field of view from the conventional 120∘– 180∘ range to approximately 280∘, enabling near-hemispherical Sun-angle observability for enhanced attitude determination robustness.
Keywords: attitude determination; sun sensor; trapezoidal photodiode; dual-axis fine sun sensor; Earth albedo; LEO satellites attitude determination; sun sensor; trapezoidal photodiode; dual-axis fine sun sensor; Earth albedo; LEO satellites

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Ou-Yang, M.; Tai, C.-I.; Huang, G.-Y.; Cheng, T.-Y.; Liu, C.-H.; Liu, Y.-S.; Chiou, J.-C.; Chan, C.-Y.; Hsieh, T.-Y.; Lin, C.-T.; et al. Design, Implementation, and Verification of High-Accuracy Trapezoidal Dual-Axis Sun Sensors for LEO Satellite Attitude Determination. Sensors 2026, 26, 3317. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26113317

AMA Style

Ou-Yang M, Tai C-I, Huang G-Y, Cheng T-Y, Liu C-H, Liu Y-S, Chiou J-C, Chan C-Y, Hsieh T-Y, Lin C-T, et al. Design, Implementation, and Verification of High-Accuracy Trapezoidal Dual-Axis Sun Sensors for LEO Satellite Attitude Determination. Sensors. 2026; 26(11):3317. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26113317

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ou-Yang, Mang, Ching-I Tai, Guan-Yu Huang, Tse-Yu Cheng, Chang-Hsun Liu, Yu-Siou Liu, Jin-Chern Chiou, Chen-Yu Chan, Tung-Yun Hsieh, Chen-Tsung Lin, and et al. 2026. "Design, Implementation, and Verification of High-Accuracy Trapezoidal Dual-Axis Sun Sensors for LEO Satellite Attitude Determination" Sensors 26, no. 11: 3317. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26113317

APA Style

Ou-Yang, M., Tai, C.-I., Huang, G.-Y., Cheng, T.-Y., Liu, C.-H., Liu, Y.-S., Chiou, J.-C., Chan, C.-Y., Hsieh, T.-Y., Lin, C.-T., Jan, Y.-W., Lin, C.-H., & Yan, Y.-J. (2026). Design, Implementation, and Verification of High-Accuracy Trapezoidal Dual-Axis Sun Sensors for LEO Satellite Attitude Determination. Sensors, 26(11), 3317. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26113317

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