Enabling orbit determination of space debris using narrowband radar

A conceptual radar platform design for detecting space debris down to 1 cm in diameter is presented for space situational awareness. Using known imaging algorithms, we show it is possible to overcome the problems associated with the typically small radar cross sections to yield a radar-attributable vector. Given the latter, the problem of matching the observation to a unique piece of debris is tackled independently of the imaging, or the detection, problem.

[1]  F. Berizzi,et al.  Italian bistatic radar system for surveillance of space debris in Low Earth Orbit , 2010, 2010 IEEE Radar Conference.

[2]  J. R. Carl,et al.  Space-borne radar detection of orbital debris , 1993, Proceedings of GLOBECOM '93. IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference.

[3]  Xinghui Cao,et al.  Research on observation of slight debris in space via space-based imaging radar , 2008, 2008 2nd International Symposium on Systems and Control in Aerospace and Astronautics.

[4]  Mengdao Xing,et al.  Single Range Matching Filtering for Space Debris Radar Imaging , 2007, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[5]  Fulin Su,et al.  Space Debris Observation via Space-based ISAR Imaging , 2007, 2007 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology.

[7]  Alessandro Rossi,et al.  Orbit determination of space debris: admissible regions , 2007 .

[8]  Jared M. Maruskin,et al.  Orbit Determination of Space Debris: Correlation of Optical Observations , 2008 .

[9]  T. Sakamoto,et al.  An effective orbit estimation algorithm for a space debris radar using the quasi-periodicity of the evaluation function , 2006, 2006 First European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.

[10]  B. Zheng,et al.  Coherent single range Doppler interferometry algorithm for high-speed spinning targets 2D imaging , 2009, 2009 2nd Asian-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar.

[11]  R.H.W. Graves.  Conceptual design for an orbiting debris detection radar , 1995, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine.

[12]  Toru Sato,et al.  Shape estimation of space debris using single-range Doppler interferometry , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[13]  Zheng Bao,et al.  SRMF-CLEAN Imaging Algorithm for Space Debris , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[14]  H. Wechsler,et al.  Analysis of micro-Doppler signatures , 2003 .

[15]  M. Skolnik,et al.  Introduction to Radar Systems , 2021, Advances in Adaptive Radar Detection and Range Estimation.

[16]  Qun Zhang,et al.  Imaging of a Moving Target With Rotating Parts Based on the Hough Transform , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[17]  Thomas Schildknecht,et al.  Optical surveys for space debris , 2007 .