Approach of recognition and precision location for the beacon in satellite optical communications

Abstract

Satellite optical communications have high communication speed and good confidentiality, which can establish high-speed and large-capacity communication links between satellites and the ground or other satellites. The requirements for the PAT (pointing, acquisition and tracking) system of satellite optical communication terminals are very high. In satellite optical communications, the biggest influence on the beacon’s recognition and tracking is the background light on CCD (Charge Coupled Device). Therefore, denoising work is required during the recognition or tracking process. This paper uses corner detection method to extract the beacon frame by frame. Mark the spot, and use the optical flow method to calculate the optical flow displacement based on the two consecutive frames. In addition, calculation accuracy of the beacon’s centroid is compared with that of the tradition method. The feasibility is verified by simulation experiment, the tracking process is completed, and the noise can be precisely eliminated.