English title

Earth horizon sensor is one of the fundamental instruments in satellite navigation system. This sensor is required to simulate satellite control system and to determine the satellite direction; hence, Pyroelectric detectors are employed to achieve this target. In this paper, the physical model of Pyroelectric detector and the mathematical model of an earth horizon sensor were presented to simulate a satellite. Pyroelectric detectors are applied to calculate the step response and field of view (FOV), which are significant parameters to recognize the earth horizon. To improve the detection of objects in far distances of detector, FOV should be as small as possible. Furthermore, the effect of solar interference has been reduced by the use of narrow FOV for sensors. The evaluation of the device has been performed through the use of test system that allows sensor performance to be determined. The observed results show the optimal value of FOV has decreased to 50° using plastic pipes. The modeling results verified that the Pyroelectric detectors are feasible to achieve functional requirements.