On the use of light sensors on CubeSat nanosatellites

The paper focuses on the usage of the TCS34725 light sensor in the motion control system of the SamSat-Science nanosatellite platform. The sensor is designed to determine the angle between the sensor normal and the direction to the light emitter center. We developed a technique for calibrating light sensors, carried out a series of experiments, verified the nominal characteristic of the light sensor, and found the dependency of mean squared deviation (MSD) of the sensor values on the angle of incidence of the light flux. Three layouts of light sensors on the lateral faces of the nanosatellite are considered: on a plane; on the faces of a quadrangular pyramid with an inclination angle of 45°; on the faces of a truncated quadrangular pyramid with an angle of inclination of 45°. We have chosen a circuit that provides measurements with minimum noise.