Abstract
An optical tracking network, the Optical Wide-field patroL Network (OWL-Net), has been developed to maintain the orbital ephemeris of 11 domestic low Earth orbit satellites. The schedule overlapped events were occurred in the scheduling of the OWL-Net with reduction of the optical observation chances. A short-arc observation strategy for the OWL-Net was tested to reduce schedule overlapped events with the optical observation simulation and the orbit determination. In the full-scale optical observation simulation from January 2014 to December 2016, the most frequent overlapped events were occurred 127, 132, and 116 times in the 4th, 34th, and 18th weeks of 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. The average number of overlapped event for three years was over 10% for the whole observation chances of five stations. Consequently, the short-arc observation strategy reduced the schedule overlapped events for every observation target of the OWL-Net. In case of the 5 s and 10 s cases, the most schedule overlapped events were removed. The test results of the orbit determination results show that the most maximum orbit prediction errors after seven days are maintained at <10 km in the in-track direction for the short-arc observation simulations. The results demonstrate that the short-arc optical observation strategy is more optimal to maintaining the accuracy of orbital ephemeris with more observation chances.
Highlights
Space objects can be tracked with various types of equipment [1], and optical tracking devices have been used to collect observation data for space objects from low Earth orbit (LEO) to the geosynchronous orbit (GSO)
We analysed the effectiveness of a short-arc optical observation strategy for orbit determination using the Optical Wide-field patroL Network (OWL-Net)
In the case of the LEO satellites, the optical observation time is limited to dawn and dusk
Summary
Space objects can be tracked with various types of equipment [1], and optical tracking devices have been used to collect observation data for space objects from low Earth orbit (LEO) to the geosynchronous orbit (GSO). We designated this problem as an optical observation overlapping problem Observation conditions such as frequency of track and arc length can affect the orbit estimation accuracy. Park et al analysed the minimum amount of data for observed LEO satellites by using the OWL-Net [9] In this analysis, the orbit determination for the various observation scenarios with the same arc-length were analysed to find the optimal observation condition. We analyse the effectiveness of a short-arc optical observation strategy for orbital ephemeris maintenance using the OWL-Net. Firstly, the orbital characteristics of 11 LEO satellites and observation simulation statistics of the OWL-Net were analysed using consecutive TLEs. Secondly, we simulated weekly overlapped observations for 2014, 2015, and 2016. The orbit estimation test for the shortarc optical observation strategy was performed using the real observation data from the OWL-Net. International designation Period Inclination Apogee Perigee Designed Orbit Operational
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
