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Equations of Motion in Spherical Coordinates
Equations of Motion in Spherical Coordinates
Arland Thompson
Chief Scientist
Advanced Technology Associates
(www.atacolorado.com)
1) Introduction
Topocentric Horizon Coordinate frame: X, Y plane is the plane tangent to the Earth’s
surface at a defined (location of RADAR etc.) center point. The X basis vector points south,
the Y basis vector points east. The Z basis vector points up along the local vertical at the
tangent center point.
, , - Azimuth from south, elevation from local X, Y plane of the topocentric
coordinate frame, and distance from frame center.
x cos cos
y cos sin Eqs. 1
z sin
For completeness, the conversion from Cartesian coordinates to spherical will also be
presented here.
x2 y2 z2
y
a tan
x Eqs. 4
z
a sin
x x
z z
2 z z
2
2
z z
1 1
2
Note that there are singularities in the above equations when the position
magnitude, x component, or y component are exactly 0. These conditions are
unlikely to arise in any practical application. However, software implementation of
these equations must deal with such eventualities.
r r r r
r
2
x 2 y 2 xy x y yx y x xy yx 2 xx 2 yy
x2 y 2 2
1 1
z 2 2
z z z z 2 2
D 1 1
2 2 1
2
2
2
2
z
2 1 z z z z z z D
4 2z2