Measuring solar vector with polarization sensors based on polarization pattern

It is put forward that solar vector can be obtained with polarization sensors in this paper, which plays an important role as a great clue of navigation. First, the design of the polarization sensor is introduced with the extraction method of azimuth angle from the polarization pattern. Then, it is advanced that solar vector can be attained through observing different directions using one or two polarization sensors. Consequently, an experiment is conducted and the results indicate that both algorithms of measuring solar vector are feasible. For the method of measuring solar vector with two polarization sensors, the accuracy of solar azimuth angle is 0.2°(1σ), and the accuracy of solar elevation angle is 0.4°(1σ) approximately. By contrast, the accuracy is relatively low for the method of using single polarization sensor.