Detection of Faint GEO Objects Using JAXA’s Fast Analysis Methods

Abstract

JAXA is developing analysis methods which can detect faint geostationary (GEO) objects that are not in the catalog provided by U.S. The stacking method, which uses numerous CCD frames to detect objects below the background noise level, has been developed and has been shown to work well, but has the drawback that detecting objects whose movements are unknown is extremely time-consuming. To overcome this, a new algorithm is developed which uses binarization of CCD images and calculates sum values instead of medians. When implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA), the algorithm reduces the analysis time by a factor of a thousand over the original stacking method, which enables us to analyze one night's data before the following night's observation. Another fast analysis method is a line-identifying technique which finds straight-line candidates in time-sequential CCD frames and can also detect faint GEO objects. Although the stacking method can detect fainter objects, the line-identifying technique has much shorter analysis time and can detect 40 cm-size objects in GEO using a 35 cm telescope. These two analysis methods may contribute to detecting many un-cataloged objects in the near future.

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