Design of a Radar Based Space Situational Awareness System
Abstract
Existing SSA-Networks in most cases consist of sensors which originally were not designed for the purpose of detecting or tracking space debris and active satellites. Furthermore there are different kinds of sensors in use which makes it even more complicated to handle all generated data. Therefore it is reasonable to create a network consisting of homogenous sensors, which means sensors of the same type (like radar or optical) and with the same output format of the data. Technologies that are available for detection and tracking of objects (e.g. optical sensors or radar) will be discussed. Focal point will be on operational availability, reliability and obtainable accuracy. It will be shown that Phased Array Radars are the most reasonable technology to be used while creating a sensor network consisting of homogenous sensors. This paper entails to present a proposal for a network of Phased Array Radars configured for this purpose. The system is intended to detect and track objects that are at least as small as objects that can currently be found in the US SSN catalogue. Furthermore potential hazards in different orbits will be evaluated and discussed to optimize the system on these areas. The system is supposed to be able to create an own object catalogue. Therefore perseverative tracking and required capacity will also be considered. On the basis of these considerations the paper shows how to lay-up such a radar-system starting from scratch. Criteria for detection and tracking of objects will be determined. This part of the work contains aspects like choosing the frequency band or tracking-frequencies for different sizes of objects. In the next step the locations for the sensors will be chosen. Based on thoughts about infrastructure it is plausible to place the radar systems on existing observation sites. By analyzing simulations with different numbers of sensors and / or locations several feasible approaches for such a Space Situational Awareness Network will be presented in this paper.
- Publication:
-
Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference
- Pub Date:
- September 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013amos.confE..85L