Automation of Satellite On-orbit Checkout and Calibration Process

ABSTRACT: The on-board, real time calibration of EO-IR sensor data is not only essential for rapid production of calibrated data from sensors which are undergoing changes in their operating conditions due to a requirement for early on-orbit operations or through anomalous events, but it is also a mandatory first step in all advanced on-board spatio-temporal target detection techniques for low-observable targets in complex backgrounds. Our Phase I effort demonstrated, with simulated sensor data and laptop processes that mimicked on-board processors, that we could generate and apply calibration coefficients that depended on the operational condition of the sensor. The effort proposed herein takes this demonstration to the next step, where 2-D imagery data taken under multiple operating conditions from a simulated or real sensor will be the data source, and the on-board processor will be a Single Board Computer (SBC). BENEFIT: The benefit to the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) remote sensing communities of a robust autonomous satellite system that can intelligently manage on-orbit recalibration is that is enabling technology for"smart satellite"operations with minimal ground supervision or interaction. The"smart satellite"will have a process to recognize events that require recalibration, which would enable the satellite to continue its mission once the recalibration has been completed and verified in the face degrading situations that heretofore would have prevented the completion of the mission.