Data Association Using a Minimum-Fuel Metric

Abstract

Data association for Uncorrelated Tracks (UCTs) is a persistent and difficult problem in Space Situational Awareness. Space objects (SOs) often maneuver or are perturbed between observations, and when new measurements are collected, these new UCTs not always easily correlated with existing catalog objects. Presently, orbit element gating, Euclidean distances, and Mahalanobis distances are considered in the literature as tools with which UCTs may be appropriately associated. This Final Report details the software structure and implementation of a UCT association approach that examines the control effort (e.g., fuel) required for the newly observed SO to correspond to a previously observed SO. Synthetic data and on-orbit Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) data are both used to test the utility of the control distance data association approach. This Final Report details a) the contract statement of work, b) the software framework and implementation, c) a brief summary of the theory, d) a description of the synthetic and on-orbit WAAS data scenarios, e) comparison and analysis of several association metrics, and f) extensions to the control distance theory.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 26, 2014
Accession Number
ADA611195

Entities

People

  • Andris D. Jaunzemis
  • Marcus J. Holzinger

Organizations

  • Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Anomaly Detection
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Boundary Value Problems
  • Change Detection
  • Data Association
  • Earth Orbits
  • Geosynchronous Orbits
  • Orbits
  • Probability Distributions
  • Resident Space Objects
  • Situational Awareness
  • Space Objects
  • Space Situational Awareness
  • Spacecraft
  • Spacecraft Orbits
  • Trajectories

Readers

  • Regression Analysis.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects