Academic Journal
Using co-located range and Doppler radars for initial orbit determination
| Title: | Using co-located range and Doppler radars for initial orbit determination |
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| Authors: | Cristina Parigini, Laura Pirovano, Roberto Armellin, Darren McKnight, Adam Marsh, Tom Reddell |
| Source: | Acta Astronautica. 236:324-331 |
| Publication Status: | Preprint |
| Publisher Information: | Elsevier BV, 2025. |
| Publication Year: | 2025 |
| Subject Terms: | FOS: Mathematics, FOS: Physical sciences, Mathematics - Numerical Analysis, Numerical Analysis (math.NA), Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) |
| Description: | With debris larger than 1 cm in size estimated to be over one million, precise cataloging efforts are essential to ensure space operations' safety. Compounding this challenge is the oversubscribed problem, where the sheer volume of space objects surpasses ground-based observatories' observational capacity. This results in sparse, brief observations and extended intervals before image acquisition. LeoLabs' network of phased-array radars addresses this need by reliably tracking 10 cm objects and larger in low Earth orbit with 10 independent radars across six sites. While LeoLabs tracklets are extremely short, they hold much more information than typical radar observations. Furthermore, two tracklets are generally available, separated by a couple of minutes. Thus, this paper develops a tailored approach to initialize state and uncertainty from a single or pair of tracklets. Through differential algebra, the initial orbit determination provides the state space compatible with the available measurements, namely an orbit set. This practice, widely used in previous research, allows for efficient data association of different tracklets, thus enabling the addition of accurate tracks to the catalog following their independent initialization. The algorithm's efficacy is tested using real measurements, evaluating the IOD solution's accuracy and ability to predict the next passage from a single or a pair of tracklets. Submitted to Acta Astronautica |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 0094-5765 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.043 |
| DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2503.09135 |
| Access URL: | http://arxiv.org/abs/2503.09135 |
| Rights: | Elsevier TDM CC BY NC SA |
| Accession Number: | edsair.doi.dedup.....27832cf162bef474c0d2b9b66ef420ca |
| Database: | OpenAIRE |
| ISSN: | 00945765 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.06.043 |