Autonomous Streaming Space Objects Detection Based on a Remote Optical System

Traditional image processing techniques provide sustainable efficiency in the astrometry of deep space objects and in applied problems of determining the parameters of artificial satellite orbits. But the speed of the computing architecture and the functions of small optical systems are rapidly developing thus contribute to the use of a dynamic video stream for detecting and initializing space objects. The purpose of this paper is to automate the processing of optical measurement data during detecting space objects and numerical methods for the initial orbit determination.

This article provided the implementation of a low-cost autonomous optical system for detecting of space objects with remote control elements. The basic algorithm model had developed and tested within the framework of remote control of a simplified optical system based on a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer with a modular camera. Under laboratory conditions, the satellite trajectory had simulated for an initial assessment of the compiled algorithmic modules of the computer vision library OpenCV.

Based on the simulation results, dynamic detection of the International Space Station in real-time from the observation site with coordinates longitude 25o41′49″ East, latitude 53o52′36″ North in the interval 00:54:00–00:54:30 17.07.2021 (UTC + 03:00) had performed. The video processing result of the pass had demonstrated in the form of centroid coordinates of the International Space Station in the image plane with a timestamps interval of which is 0.2 s.

This approach provides an autonomous raw data extraction of a space object for numerical methods for the initial determination of its orbit.

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