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Reference coordinate frames

D2S2 makes use of four coordinate systems:

  1. Earth Centred Inertial coordinate frame (ECI)
  2. Earth Centred, Earth Fixed coordinate frame (ECEF)
  3. Orbit Reference Coordinate frame (ORC)
  4. Satellite Body Coordinate frame (SBC)

Each coordinate system has an associated camera, from which the D2S2 simulation can be viewed.

Earth centred coordinate frames (ECI and ECEF)

The Earth-Centred Inertial (ECI) coordinate frame is an inertial coordinate frame that has its origin fixed to the Earth's centre of mass. The coordinate frame is defined by, and fixed with respect to the celestial sphere. Specifically, D2S2 makes use of the J2000 ECI reference frame. The \(X\) axis is aligned with the mean vernal equinox at the reference epoch, and the \(Z\) axis is aligned with the Earth's rotation axis as it was at the reference epoch. The inertialFrameButton button in D2S2 fixes the simulation camera to the ECI coordinate frame.

The ECEF (Earth Centred, Earth Fixed) coordinate system is a non-inertial frame with the origin fixed at the center of mass of the Earth. Its axes are denoted with \(z'\), \(x'\) and \(y'\). The \(z'\) axis aligns with the rotation axis of the Earth, and the \(x'-y'\) plane coincides with Earth's equatorial plane. D2S2 uses the ITRF reference frame as ECEF frame. Latitude, longitude and altitude conversion makes use of the WGS84 reference ellipsoid. The EarthFrameButton button in D2S2 fixes the simulation camera to the ECEF coordinate frame.

Orbit reference coordinate (ORC) frame

The orbit reference frame rotates with the orbit of the spacecraft so that the \(Z_{o}\) reference axis points towards nadir, the \(X_{o}\) reference axis points towards the velocity vector, and the \(Y_{o}\) axis points along the orbit anti-normal. An illustration of the orbit reference frame is shown in Figure 2. Using the orbital reference frame within D2S2 will cause the camera track the satellite's translation, but not its rotation. To select the orbital reference frame in D2S2, press the orbitCamera button.

orbitReferenceFrame Figure 2: The orbit reference frame axes.

Satellite body coordinate (SBC) frame

The satellite body coordinate (SBC) system is a non-inertial coordinate reference frame that is fixed to the satellite body. The SBC systems is nominally aligned with the orbit coordinate system when roll, pitch and yaw equal zero. As such, the camera will rotate with the satellite when this reference frame is selected. An illustration of the SBC reference frame is shown in Figure 3. To view the satellite within the SBC reference frame in D2S2, press the satelliteCamera button.

orbitReferenceFrame

Figure 3: The spacecraft body coordinate (SBC) reference frame axes.