Christopher Griffith, The Aerospace Corporation; Brian Baptista, The Aerospace Corporation; Nicholas Chapman, The Aerospace Corporation
Keywords: scene simulator, imaging, modeling, Space Domain Awareness scenes
Abstract:
Aerospace has developed a high-fidelity Space Domain Awareness (SDA) scene simulator to produce realistic electro-optical space surveillance scenes for both ground- and space-based sensors to provide stakeholders with simulated imagery during the acquisition phase of programs as well as to test mission data processing algorithms and data pipelines, among other uses. We construct scenes using sensor-target engagement scenarios that model the radiometry of the scene while adding in the appropriate background and noise components. The scene simulator generates scenes using the Gaia star catalog containing over one billion stars down to 22nd magnitude to provide accurate in-band stellar, sky, and stray light backgrounds and can incorporate lab measurements of detectors, including dark current, read noise, bias, and other electronic effects as well as other phenomena such as cosmic rays, to capture sensor-specific noise sources and behaviors. Aerospace can simulate scenarios with any sensor observing concept of operations (CONOPS) and the targets in the scene can be modeled at any fidelity, from simple diffuse sphere objects to high-fidelity CAD models that render realistic bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDF) and shadowing to capture complicated light curve behavior. High-fidelity scenes created by the simulator are currently used to reduce risk and guide technology development on multiple programs to ensure that sensor performance and data processing will meet mission needs and requirements.
Date of Conference: September 17-20, 2024
Track: Space Domain Awareness