Session
Session 8: Frank J. Redd Student Competition
Abstract
The problem of creating a fast, robust startracker optimized for a specific camera is both of great importance, and great difficulty for smallsat missions. A cycle of algorithm development, camera calibration, validation, and database tuning typically requires several iterations, and consumes a great deal of time and effort. Unfortunately this is often the only option for smallsat missions, where financial constraints put commercial star trackers out of reach. In this paper, we present a framework which automates the process from end to end. Given a set of sample star images taken with a given camera at the desired exposure time, we can automatically calculate all the parameters, generate the optimal startracker database, and perform testing and validation. Depending on the camera, this results in a startracker with performance that has been shown to be on par with, or in many cases better than existing commercial startrackers. A startracker produced using this method has been tested and will soon have flight heritage, at which point this software will be made available to the smallsat community via an open source license.
Presentation
Automatic Star-tracker Optimization Framework
The problem of creating a fast, robust startracker optimized for a specific camera is both of great importance, and great difficulty for smallsat missions. A cycle of algorithm development, camera calibration, validation, and database tuning typically requires several iterations, and consumes a great deal of time and effort. Unfortunately this is often the only option for smallsat missions, where financial constraints put commercial star trackers out of reach. In this paper, we present a framework which automates the process from end to end. Given a set of sample star images taken with a given camera at the desired exposure time, we can automatically calculate all the parameters, generate the optimal startracker database, and perform testing and validation. Depending on the camera, this results in a startracker with performance that has been shown to be on par with, or in many cases better than existing commercial startrackers. A startracker produced using this method has been tested and will soon have flight heritage, at which point this software will be made available to the smallsat community via an open source license.
