Research Progress of Polarized Skylight Navigation

Abstract

The idea of using skylight polarization in navigation is learned form animals such as ant and bee.Polarization compass is designed to provide navigation information for moving vehicles on the ground such as cars,ships and mobile robots and three dimensional space vehicles such as airplanes.This paper introduces the basic polarization pattern of the skylight and the basic principle of the insets navigation using this pattern.The research progress in the field of artificial polarization navigation for moving vehicles in the atmosphere is summarized.The key research issues of polarization navigation are analyzed.The idea of using polarization from the atmosphere in satellite navigation is presented.The possibility and future of using polarization for satellite autonomous navigation to provide attitude and orbit information is discussed.