Viability Assessment Report on TTRDP GMTI Constallation Study
Abstract
Driven by the potential military utility of a satellite constellation providing wide-area space based surveillance, the Trilateral Technology Research and Development Program (TTRDP) envisaged a framework that supports constellation concept design, assessment modeling and system feasibility studies. The concept design's "study and evolve" approach was institutionalized by formulating various teams, each oriented towards distinct research activity, to cooperatively feed on each others inferences. The performance assessment activity kicked-off with an initial set of constellation design parameters with 36 satellites distributed in 12 orbital planes inclined at 850. The outcome of iterative research and assessment activities revealed that 27 satellites distributed in nine orbital planes at 63.40 inclination produces equally acceptable results over most of the globe. This report is the result of an effort to deduce the viability of various design trade-offs that the two sets of satellite orbital parameters and constellation patterns can render on the Measure of Performance (MOP). Simulation Laboratory (SimLab), a simulator built in-house at DRDC Ottawa, and Satellite Tool Kit (STK), a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) tool, were used as performance modelling and assessment tools to obtain the MOP and statistically evaluate the two constellation patterns. The assessment presented in this report quantifies the MOP based on coverage, detection and tracking analysis, which SimLab exercised on a representative Area of Interest (AOI) and STK on a global scale. With most of the satellite and sensor's parameters being held constant, a comparative performance validation was conducted against both constellation patterns.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA436217
Entities
People
- Girish Rao
- Rahim Jassemi-zargani
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada