Initial information content analysis of shadow imaging of GEO satellites

David G. Sheppard; Bobby R. Hunt; Peter N. McMahon-Crabtree

doi:10.1117/12.3026897

4 October 2024 Initial information content analysis of shadow imaging of GEO satellites

David G. Sheppard, Bobby R. Hunt, Peter N. McMahon-Crabtree

Proceedings Volume 13149, Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024; 1314903 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3026897
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2024, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Space Domain Awareness (SDA) is important for understanding the space environment to ensure safe operation of space missions. SDA activities include the detection, identification, tracking and characterizing of artificial satellites. SDA objectives rely greatly on the information that can be gained from ground-based sensors, such as optical telescopes. A space object may be detected by a telescope when it passes in front of a star. There have been studies of how the shadow cast to Earth from a star can be interpreted for important data, referred to as Shadow Imaging. Herein we discuss the usage of information theoretic methods to understand the limitations of stellar Shadow Imaging. These methods measure the information content in the irradiance pattern, as seen by a terrestrial observer, from the shadow cast by the geosynchronous space object passing in front of a stellar source.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

David G. Sheppard, Bobby R. Hunt, and Peter N. McMahon-Crabtree "Initial information content analysis of shadow imaging of GEO satellites", Proc. SPIE 13149, Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024, 1314903 (4 October 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3026897

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