Applications of Kalman Filtering in Aerospace 1960 to the Present

Abstract

Nothing speaks more eloquently of the impact of Kalman fi ltering on society than the 2008 Draper Prize awarded by the National Academy of Engineering to Rudolf Emil Kalman “for the development and dissemination of the optimal digital technique (known as the Kalman fi lter) that is pervasively used to control a vast array of consumer, health, commercial, and defense products.” To quote further from the announcement of the Awards Committee, “The Kalman fi lter revolutionized the fi eld of control theory and has become pervasive in engineering systems.” The latter statement is especially pertinent within the aerospace community. In the 1960s, the Kalman filter was applied to navigation for the Apollo Project, which required estimates of the trajectories of manned spacecraft going to the Moon and back. With the lives of the astronauts at stake, it was essential that the Kalman filter be proven effective and reliable before it could be used. This article is about the lead up to Kalman’s work, key discoveries in the development and maturation of the filter, a sampling of its many applications in aerospace, and recognition of some who played key roles in that history.