An introduction to RHINO: real-time histogram interpretation of numerical observations

RHINO, Real-time Histogram Interpretation of Numerical Observations, is a specialty algorithm and tool under development for the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The intent is to provide real-time feedback for adaptive control of telescope pointing for ground-space-ground laser illumination experiments. Nukove together with New Mexico State University first established a proof-of-principle laboratory experiment using RHINO and, under a controlled environment, reduction of the pointing error known as boresight was demonstrated. Additionally, the RHINO algorithm successfully predicted a systematic pointing offset due to solar illumination of a satellite. RHINO is resilient to effects such as glints, speckle, and scintillation. The forthcoming commercially available version of RHINO will use real-time field data and provide adaptive control to the user.