Prof.

Minsung Kim
Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering
Dongguk University – Seoul Campus

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Preliminary
∎ A Word about Vectors and Reference Frames

• A free vector is a geometric quantity with a length and a direction.

Think of it as an arrow in 𝑅𝑛.

• One stationary fixed frame, or space frame, denoted {s}, has been
defined. This might be attached to a corner of a room.

• Body frame, denoted {b}, is the stationary frame that is coincident with
the body-attached frame at any instant.

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Preliminary
∎ A Word about Vectors and Reference Frames

𝑃𝑏 = (4, −2)

𝑃𝑎 = (1,2)

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Planar body (gray shape)

Represent a configuration
of a rigid body in {s}

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Position of Planar body

• The body-frame origin p can be expressed in terms of the coordinate

axes of {s} as

• The way to describe the orientation of the body frame {b} relative to the
fixed frame {s} is by specifying the angle 𝜃.
• Specify the directions of the unit axes 𝑥Ƹ𝑏 and 𝑦Ƹ𝑏 of {b} relative to {s}

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Position of Planar body

• Assuming we agree to express everything in terms of {s} then, point p

can be represented

• Two vectors 𝒙
ො 𝒃 and 𝒚
ො 𝒃 can also be written as column vectors and
packaged into
1) Each column : unit vector
2) Two columns are orthogonal to each other

• The matrix P is an example of a rotation matrix.

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Three frames

Change the reference

frame in which a vector
or frame is represented

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Three frames
• Repeating the previous approach, and expressing {c} in {s} as the pair (R, r),

• we can write {c} relative to {b} as the pair (Q, q), where

• If we know (Q, q) (the configuration of {c} relative to {b}) and (P, p), we can
compute the configuration of {c} relative to {s} as follows:

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ A rigid body with two frames
Displace a vector or a frame

Rotation followed by a Rotating the body about a

translation fixed point s by an angle 𝜷
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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ A rigid body with two frames

• The frame {d} is initially coincident with {s}, and {c} is initially described
by (R, r) in {s}
• Then the body is moved in such a way that {d} moves to {d’}, becoming
coincident with a frame {b} described by (P, p) in {s}.
• Denoting the configuration of the new frame {𝐜′} as (R′, r′), you can
verify that

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ A rigid body with two frames
Displace a vector or a frame

Rotation followed by a Rotating the body about a

translation fixed point s by an angle 𝜷
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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ A rigid body with two frames

• (b) is a planar example of a screw motion.

• This displacement can be parameterized by three screw coordinates (𝛽,
𝑠𝑥 , 𝑠𝑦 ), where (𝑠𝑥 , 𝑠𝑦 )=(0, 2) denotes the coordinates for the point s in the
fixed frame {s}.

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ A rigid body with two frames

• Another way is to consider it as the displacement obtained by following

simultaneous angular and linear velocities for a given distance.
- Rotating about s with a unit angular velocity 𝜔 =1 rad/s
- A point at the origin of the {s} frame moves at two units per sec initially
in the +𝑥-direction
Ƹ of the {s} frame
- Package these together in the three-vector S=(𝜔, 𝑣𝑥, 𝑣𝑦 )=(1, 2, 0), a
representation of the screw axis.
- Following this screw axis for an angle θ = 𝜋/2 yields the final
displacement S𝜃=(𝜋/2, 𝜋, 0), called exponential coordinates for the
planar rigid-body displacement.

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Preview of the remainder of this chapter

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Preview of the remainder of this chapter

• Let p denote the vector from the fixed-frame origin to the body-frame
origin,

• The axes of the body frame can also be expressed as

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Rigid-Body Motions in the Plane
∎ Preview of the remainder of this chapter

• Defining p and R as

• The 12 parameters given by (R, p) then provide a description of the

position and orientation of the rigid body relative to the fixed
frame.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Rotation Matrices

(a) The unit norm condition: 𝑥Ƹ𝑏 , 𝑦Ƹ𝑏 and 𝑧𝑏Ƹ are all unit vectors, i.e.,

(b) The orthogonality condition: 𝑥Ƹ𝑏 𝑦Ƹ𝑏 =𝑥Ƹ𝑏 𝑧𝑏Ƹ =𝑦Ƹ𝑏 𝑧𝑏Ƹ =0 (here denotes the
inner product), or

• These six constraints can be expressed more compactly as a single set of

𝑹𝑻𝑹 = 𝑰
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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Rotation Matrices

• The frame is right handed (i.e., 𝒙 ො 𝒃 = 𝒛ො 𝒃) rather than left-handed

ො𝒃 × 𝒚
(𝑥Ƹ𝑏 × 𝑦Ƹ𝑏 = −𝑧𝑏Ƹ )
• Denoting the three columns of M by a, b, and c, its determinant is
det M=𝑎𝑇 𝑏 × 𝑐 = 𝑐𝑇 (𝑎 × 𝑏)=𝑏𝑇 (𝑐 × 𝑎)
• Substituting the columns for R into this formula,
det R=1
• Special orthogonal group SO(3) is the set of all 3 x 3 matrices R that
satisfy
i) 𝑅𝑇 𝑅 = 𝐼 and ii) det R=1
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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices

Three major uses for a rotation matrix R

(a) Represent an orientation

(b) Change the reference frame in which a vector or a frame is represented

(c) Rotate a vector or a frame

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices

• Orientations of the three frames relative to {s} can be written

• Location of the point p in these frames can be written

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices – 1. Representing An Orientation

• 𝑹𝒄 or 𝑹𝒔𝒄 is the orientation of the frame {c} relative to the fixed frame {s}

• 𝑹𝒃𝒄 is the orientation of {c} relative to {b}

• Orientations of the frames {c} relative to {a} or in reverse can be

written

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices – 2. Changing the Reference Frame

• Rotation matrix 𝑅𝑎𝑏 represents the orientation of {b} in {a}, and 𝑅𝑏𝑐
represents the orientation of {c} in {b}.
• A straightforward calculation shows that the orientation of {c} in {a} can
be computed as
𝑅𝑎𝑐 = 𝑅𝑎𝑏 𝑅𝑏𝑐

• A subscript cancellation rule helps us to remember this property

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Uses of Rotation Matrices – 3. Rotating a Vector or a Frame

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Rotating a Vector or a Frame
• Examples of rotation operations about coordinate frame axes are

• More generally, for 𝒘

ෝ = (ෝ ෝ 𝟐, 𝒘
𝒘𝟏, 𝒘 ෝ 𝟑)

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Rotating a Vector or a Frame

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
• If we examine the body frame at times t and t+∆t, the change in frame
orientation can be described as a rotation of angle ∆𝜃 about some unit
axis 𝑤.
ෝ
• In the limit as ∆t approaches zero, the ratio ∆𝜃/∆t becomes the rate of
rotation 𝜃.ሶ
•𝒘
ෝ and 𝜽ሶ can be combined to define the angular velocity 𝒘 as
ෝ 𝜃ሶ
𝑤=𝑤

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
• It should be evident that

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
• Let R(t) be the rotation matrix describing the orientation of the body
frame with respect to the fixed frame at time t; 𝑹(t)
ሶ is its time rate of
change.
• The first column of R(t), denoted 𝒓𝟏(t), describes 𝑥Ƹ in fixed-frame
coordinates; similarly, 𝒓𝟐(t) and 𝒓𝟑(t) respectively describe 𝑦Ƹ and 𝑧Ƹ in
fixed-frame coordinates.
• At a specific time t, let 𝒘𝒔 ∈ 𝑹𝟑 be the angular velocity w expressed in
fixed-frame coordinates.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
• These three equations can be rearranged into the following single 3 x 3
matrix equation:

• We introduce some new notation, rewriting 𝝎𝒔 × 𝑹 as [𝝎𝒔]𝑹

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
• Given a vector 𝑥 = [𝑥1, 𝑥2, 𝑥3]𝑇, define
0 −𝑥3 𝑥2
𝑥 = 𝑥3 0 −𝑥1
−𝑥2 𝑥1 0
The matrix [x] is a 3x3 skew-symmetric matrix representation of x; that
is,
x = −[x]T:
The set of all 3x3 real skew-symmetric matrices is called SO(3)

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
Practice Exercise 3.11.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
Practice Exercise 3.11.
Consider the satellite and Earth (Fig. 3.6).
Let 𝑤𝑏 = (0, 1, 1) be the angular velocity of the satellite expressed in the
satellite body frame {b}. Assume a fixed Earth frame {e}.
(a) Solve for the coordinate axis velocities of {b} ( 𝑥ሶƸ𝑏 , 𝑦ሶƸ𝑏 , and 𝑧𝑏ሶƸ )
represented in the {b} frame.
(b) The orientation of the {b} frame is equivalent to the {e} frame after it
has been rotated -90 degrees about its 𝑧𝑒Ƹ -axis. Solve for 𝑤𝑒 , the
satellite angular velocity represented in {e}.
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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations
Practice Exercise 3.11 – Sol.
(a)

(b)

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Angular Velocities
Practice Exercise 3.11.
(c) Solve for 𝑅ሶ 𝑒𝑏 , the time derivative of the body orientation expressed in
{e}.
(d) Give the SO(3) representation of the angular velocity in both the Earth
and the body frames.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations
Practice Exercise 3.11 – Sol.
(c)

(d)

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

• Exponential coordinates parameterize a rotation matrix in terms of a

rotation axis (represented by a unit vector 𝜔)
ො and an angle of rotation 𝜃
in terms of that axis.
• The vector 𝑤𝜃
ෝ serves as the three-parameter exponential coordinate
representation of the rotation.
• Writing 𝑤
ෝ and 𝜃 individually is the axis-angle representation of a
rotation.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

• Suppose that a three-dimensional vector p(0) is rotated by 𝜃 about 𝜔

ො to
𝑝(𝜃)
• This rotation can be achieved by imagining that p(0) rotates at a
constant rate of 1 rad/s (since ω
ෝ has unit magnitude) from time t = 0 to t
=θ.
• Let p(t) denote the path traced by the tip of the vector.
• The velocity of p(t), denoted 𝑝,ሶ is then given by
𝑝ሶ = 𝜔
ො ×𝑝 = 𝜔
ො 𝑝

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

• This is a linear differential equation of the form 𝒙ሶ = 𝑨𝒙; its solution is

given by

• Please refer to Proposition 3.10

• Since t and 𝜽 are interchangeable, the equation above can also be
written

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations

• Let us now expand the matrix exponential 𝒆[ෝ𝝎]𝜽 in series form.

• Given a vector w
ෝ θ ∈ R3, such that θ is any scalar and w
ෝ ∈ R3 is a unit
vector, the matrix exponential of [ෝ
w] θ = [ෝ
wθ] ∈ SO 3 is

• This equation is also known as Rodrigues’ formula for rotations.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations
Example 3.12.

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Rotations and Angular Velocities
∎ Exponential Coordinates of Rotations
Example 3.12 – Sol.

• i) The frame {b} can be represented by R

or ii) by the unit axis 𝑤

ෝ1 = 0, 0.866, 0.5 and the angle 𝜃1 = 0.524 rad.
i.e., the exponential coordinates 𝑤
ෝ1𝜃1=(0, 0.453, 0.262)
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