AAS 97-684
A QUATERNION FORM OF KINEMATIC EQUATIONS IN ROTATING REFERENCE FRAMES
L. Meister (Aramanovich) - TH Darmstadt, Germany
Abstract
The main kinematic equation of a rigid body motion is considered in different rotating reference frames. It is shown that quaternion algebra gives rather simple analytic method to transform the kinematic equation from one reference frame into another. A table of quaternions which describes the connection between every pair of the main reference frames used in Geodesy and Astrodynamics is constructed. This table allows to simplify transformations and to choose the most appropriate quaternion form of the kinematic equation. Different quaternion forms of the kinematic equation depending on available data and the influence of measurement errors are discussed.