Algorithm for the calculation of the horizontal coordinates of the Sun via spatial rotation matrices

Ígor Rapp-Arrarás and Juan M. Domingo-Santos

Renewable Energy, 2009, vol. 34, issue 3, 876-882

Abstract: This paper presents a new algorithm for calculating azimuth and altitude of the Sun from its ecliptic coordinates. The equations of the new procedure are not based on spherical trigonometry, like the procedure currently used for computing the solar vector, but on analytic geometry enriched by matrix algebra. Our proposal allows the horizontal coordinates of the Sun to be determined with a significantly higher computational efficiency than the classic algorithm without any loss in accuracy.

Keywords: Solar vector; Rotation matrices; Coordinate transformation; Computational efficiency; Algorithm efficiency; GIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:34:y:2009:i:3:p:876-882

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2008.06.005

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