Peter Zimmer, J.T. McGraw and Associates, LLC, John T. McGraw, JTMA, Mark Ackermann, JTMA
Keywords: LEO, GEO, SSA, Optical, Telescope, CMOS, GPU
Abstract:
Recent improvements in sCMOS technology allow for affordable, wide-field, and rapid cadence surveillance from LEO to out past GEO using largely off-the-shelf hardware. sCMOS sensors, until very recently, suffered from several shortcomings when compared to CCD sensors – lower sensitivity, smaller physical size and less predictable noise characteristics. Sensors that overcome the first two of these are now available commercially and the principals at J.T. McGraw and Associates (JTMA) have developed observing strategies that minimize the impact of the third, while leveraging the key features of sCMOS, fast readout and low average readout noise. JTMA has integrated a new generation sCMOS sensor into an existing COTS telescope system in order to develop and test new detection techniques designed for uncued optical surveillance across a wide range of apparent object angular rates – from degree per second scale of LEO objects to a few arcseconds per second for objects out past GEO. One further complication arises from this: increased useful frame rate means increased data volume. Fortunately, GPU technology continues to advance at a breakneck pace and we report on the results and performance of our new detection techniques implemented on new generation GPUs. Early results show significance within 20% of the expected theoretical limiting signal-to-noise using commodity GPUs in near real time across a wide range of object parameters, closing the gap in detectivity between moving objects and tracked objects.
Date of Conference: September 20-23, 2016
Track: Instrumentation & Optical Surveillance