By Simone D'Amico November 28, 2022
Professor D'Amico traveled to Arlington, VA this week to present the latest SLAB research at the 2022 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSAR) Physics of Sensing Program Review. Professor D'Amico's presentation was titled "Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Orbit Determination using Multiple Observers," and included results from SLAB that address two fundamental research questions.
First, how do we estimate the motion of an unresolved target space object with respect to a spaceborne observer using only three pairs of sequential bearing angle measurements in closed-form and quickly? This question was addressed by SLAB PhD candidate Matthew Willis and Professor D'Amico in their publication "Fast Angles-Only Relative Navigation Using Polynomial Dynamics," which was awarded the Best Paper Award at the 11th International Workshop on Satellite Constellations & Formation Flying in Milano, Italy, June 7-10 2022.
Second, how do we assess and optimize angles-only observability of an arbitrary distributed space systems (DSS) made of multiple observers and targets? SLAB PhD candidate Justin Kruger and Professor D'Amico addressed this question in their publication "Observability Analysis and Optimization for Angles-Only Navigation of Distributed Space Systems," also presented at 11th International Workshop on Satellite Constellations & Formation Flying.
Both publications are available on the SLAB website under the Publications tab
A big thanks to the AFOSAR Physics of Sensing Research Program and SLAB PhD students who make this exciting work possible!
Simone D'Amico is the founder and director of SLAB.
