Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition

Accurate attitude determination is crucial for satellites and spacecraft. Among attitude determination devices, star sensors are the most accurate. Solving the lost-in-space problem is the most critical function of the star sensor. Our research introduces a novel star-identification system that util...

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Main Authors: Gustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz, Miguel A. Alonso-Arévalo, Juan M. Nuñez-Alfonso
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-08-01
Series:Aerospace
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/9/748
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author Gustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz
Miguel A. Alonso-Arévalo
Juan M. Nuñez-Alfonso
author_facet Gustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz
Miguel A. Alonso-Arévalo
Juan M. Nuñez-Alfonso
author_sort Gustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz
collection DOAJ
description Accurate attitude determination is crucial for satellites and spacecraft. Among attitude determination devices, star sensors are the most accurate. Solving the lost-in-space problem is the most critical function of the star sensor. Our research introduces a novel star-identification system that utilizes a polygon-recognition algorithm to assign a unique complex number to polygons created by stars. This system aims to solve the lost-in-space problem. Our system includes a full solution with a lens, image sensor, processing unit, and algorithm implementation. To test the system’s performance, we analyzed 100 night sky images that resembled what a real star sensor in orbit would experience. We used a <i>k</i>-d tree algorithm to accelerate the search in the star catalog of complex numbers. We implemented various verification methods, including internal polygon verification and a voting mechanism, to ensure the system’s reliability. We obtained the star database used as a reference from the Gaia DR2 catalog, which we filtered, to eliminate irrelevant stars, and which we arranged by apparent magnitude. Despite manually introducing up to three false stars, the system successfully identified at least one star in 97% of the analyzed images.
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spelling doaj.art-d47daf36b916417497c87efbab4b29592023-11-19T09:04:19ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102023-08-0110974810.3390/aerospace10090748Star-Identification System Based on Polygon RecognitionGustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz0Miguel A. Alonso-Arévalo1Juan M. Nuñez-Alfonso2Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, CICESE Research Center, Ensenada 22860, MexicoDepartment of Electronics and Telecommunications, CICESE Research Center, Ensenada 22860, MexicoUNAM Institute of Astronomy, Ensenada Campus, Ensenada 22860, MexicoAccurate attitude determination is crucial for satellites and spacecraft. Among attitude determination devices, star sensors are the most accurate. Solving the lost-in-space problem is the most critical function of the star sensor. Our research introduces a novel star-identification system that utilizes a polygon-recognition algorithm to assign a unique complex number to polygons created by stars. This system aims to solve the lost-in-space problem. Our system includes a full solution with a lens, image sensor, processing unit, and algorithm implementation. To test the system’s performance, we analyzed 100 night sky images that resembled what a real star sensor in orbit would experience. We used a <i>k</i>-d tree algorithm to accelerate the search in the star catalog of complex numbers. We implemented various verification methods, including internal polygon verification and a voting mechanism, to ensure the system’s reliability. We obtained the star database used as a reference from the Gaia DR2 catalog, which we filtered, to eliminate irrelevant stars, and which we arranged by apparent magnitude. Despite manually introducing up to three false stars, the system successfully identified at least one star in 97% of the analyzed images.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/9/748star identificationpolygon recognitionsimilarity transformationGaia cataloglost-in-spacestar sensor
spellingShingle Gustavo E. Ramos-Alcaraz
Miguel A. Alonso-Arévalo
Juan M. Nuñez-Alfonso
Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
Aerospace
star identification
polygon recognition
similarity transformation
Gaia catalog
lost-in-space
star sensor
title Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
title_full Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
title_fullStr Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
title_full_unstemmed Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
title_short Star-Identification System Based on Polygon Recognition
title_sort star identification system based on polygon recognition
topic star identification
polygon recognition
similarity transformation
Gaia catalog
lost-in-space
star sensor
url https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/10/9/748
work_keys_str_mv AT gustavoeramosalcaraz staridentificationsystembasedonpolygonrecognition
AT miguelaalonsoarevalo staridentificationsystembasedonpolygonrecognition
AT juanmnunezalfonso staridentificationsystembasedonpolygonrecognition