Earth beacon acquisition and tracking under various illumination conditions

Barbara E. Marino; Haiping Tsou; Tsun-Yee Yan

doi:10.1117/12.430780

20 June 2001 Earth beacon acquisition and tracking under various illumination conditions

Barbara E. Marino, Haiping Tsou, Tsun-Yee Yan

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4272, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIII; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.430780
Event: Photonics West 2001 - LASE, 2001, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

The use of sun-illuminated Earth images has been explored to aid in meeting the stringent pointing requirements for deep space optical downlink telemetry. It has been shown that fully illuminated Earth images provide a symmetry that easily lends to the determination of the geocenter. Since more often than not, the Earth is only partially illuminated by the sun, additional work is required to meet the pointing requirements under all illumination conditions. This paper develops an algorithm for determining the geocenter of the Earth regardless of the illumination by the sun using sub-pixel scanning and a simple thresholding technique. To complete this approach the acquisition algorithm is paired with a tracking technique based on maximum likelihood estimation. Results have indicated that the algorithm works well to locate and track the position of the Earth and, thereby, a receiving station. Results of the experiments are presented and compared with other techniques.

Citation Download Citation

Barbara E. Marino, Haiping Tsou, and Tsun-Yee Yan "Earth beacon acquisition and tracking under various illumination conditions", Proc. SPIE 4272, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIII, (20 June 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.430780

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

;

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE