New kind of self-powered wireless digital sun sensor

Abstract

This paper shows the design of a self-powered wireless digital sun sensor (including magnetometer). The information of satellite attitude and magnetic field intensity can be transferred to the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) through Bluetooth. Four solar cells in parallel connection and a super capacitor make sure that the sun sensor can work both in sunshine and shadow areas. The sun sensor meets the needs of microsatellite, which has small volume (30mm×30mm×12.5mm), low power (<50mW), large field of view (120°) and high precision (0.5°).