Variable Altitude Cognizant Slepian Functions
We present an approach to calculate potential fields on a planet’s surface from regionally confined gradient data at spacecraft altitude, such as measurements of magnetic fields or gravitational acceleration. Our method uses altitude cognizant Slepian functions with a reference radial position that varies as a function of longitude and latitude. This is an evolution from previous altitude cognizant Slepian functions which use a fixed reference radial position. We demonstrate the advantage of these variable altitude cognizant Slepian functions over the fixed altitude cognizant Slepian functions and the classical Slepian functions using numerical tests.
planetary science↗