Investigation of Attitude-Independent Magnetometer Calibration Approaches Under Various Conditions

Magnetometers are vital for satellite attitude determination, providing measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field to infer orientation. However, accurate attitude estimation requires thorough calibration to correct errors such as bias, scaling factors, and nonorthogonality of the magnetometer axes. This study investigates four magnetometer calibration methods, categorized into batch and real-time techniques, analyzing their performance under two distinct spacecraft states: tumbling and detumbling. Simulated data was used to evaluate the calibration algorithms under varying orbital elements, highlighting their effectiveness in each state. The findings offer valuable insights for selecting robust calibration techniques for precise attitude determination in satellite operations.