Autonomous Global Sky Surveillance with Real-Time Robotic Follow-up: Night Sky Awareness through Thinking Telescopes Technology

Abstract

We discuss the development of prototypes for a global grid of advanced "thinking" sky sentinels and robotic follow-up telescopes that observe the full night sky to provide real-time monitoring of the night sky by autonomously recognizing anomalous behavior, selecting targets for detailed investigation, and making real-time, follow-up observations. The layered, fault-tolerant, network uses relatively inexpensive robotic EO sensors to provide persistent autonomous monitoring and real-time anomaly detection to enable rapid recognition and a swift response to transients as they emerge. This T3 global EO grid avoids the limitations imposed by geography and weather to provide persistent monitoring of the night sky.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA532039

Entities

People

  • Barry Hogge
  • Ben Norman
  • Edward Fenimore
  • Heath Davis
  • James Wren
  • Jeff Bloch
  • Moriba Jah
  • Przemek Wozniak
  • Richard Rast
  • Robert R. White
  • W. T. Vestrand

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anomaly Detection
  • Change Detection
  • Data Mining
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Gamma Rays
  • Identification
  • Information Science
  • Machine Learning
  • Monitoring
  • Observation
  • Observatories
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Recognition
  • Sensor Networks
  • Telescopes
  • Thinking

Readers

  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomy
  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects