Time-of-Flight Monitoring Camera System of the De-orbiting Drag Sail for Microsatellite ALE-1

Potier, Adrien; Kuwahara, Toshinori; Pala, Alperen; Fujita, Shin; Sato, Yuji; Shibuya, Yoshihiko; Tomio, Hannah; Tanghanakanond, Pasith; Honda, Tomoyuki; Shibuya, Tomomasa; Koh, Kern; Uto, Hiroki

doi:10.2322/tastj.19.774

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…ALE-1 is also equipped with a camera, called the Time-of-Flight (TOF) Camera System, for observing the SDOM film. This camera system collects distance information to the sail surface and downlinks the data to the ground to allow analyses to obtain better insight into the three-dimensional dynamic behavior of the boom and drag sail in space [20]. In fact, we reported the results of our estimation of the shape of the SDOM when deployed in space in 2022 [21].…”

Section: Trouble Of Sdommentioning

confidence: 99%

De-Orbit Maneuver Demonstration Results of Micro-Satellite ALE-1 with a Separable Drag Sail

et al. 2023

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ALE-1, a micro-satellite created for the demonstration of artificial shooting stars, required orbital descent before mission execution due to safety aspects in orbit. ALE-1 utilized a drag sail called SDOM (Separable De-Orbit Mechanism) for a passive de-orbit maneuver, which was successfully completed, lowering the orbit from about 500 km down to about 400 km. This paper summarizes the detailed history of satellite operation and the results of the de-orbit maneuver demonstration during the past three years. Although the SDOM sail faced difficulty in keeping the desired deployed shape of the drag sail due to mechanical troubles, by letting the sail be a drag flag instead, it could still deliver a meaningful de-orbit performance to allow the satellite to successfully lower the orbit as planned. The de-orbit effect of the drag flag was evaluated using comparisons between orbit propagation simulations and the actual orbit transition flight data provided in the form of TLE (Two-Line Element) sets. Through this study, it is demonstrated that the SDOM can provide orbit transfer capabilities for satellites. Furthermore, the de-orbit performance of the drag flag can be evaluated, which could be an important reference for the future implementation of de-orbit devices to solve space debris problems.

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Section: Trouble Of Sdommentioning

confidence: 99%

De-Orbit Maneuver Demonstration Results of Micro-Satellite ALE-1 with a Separable Drag Sail

et al. 2023

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“…In recent years, time-of-flight (TOF) imaging technology has been widely used in ground robot positioning and navigation, pose estimation, 3D reconstruction, indoor games, and other fields due to its advantages in structure and performance. Significantly, researchers are promoting TOF imaging technology in spatial tasks such as spatial pose estimation and relative navigation [1][2][3][4][5][6]. However, due to the particularity of the space environment, it is difficult to obtain the imaging results of the actual TOF camera before formulating the space mission scheme, planning mission content, and designing the related algorithms, so it is impossible to evaluate the algorithm capability and ensure the smooth implementation of the mission [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physics-Based TOF Imaging Simulation for Space Targets Based on Improved Path Tracing

et al. 2022

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Aiming at the application of close-up space measurement based on time-of-flight (TOF) cameras, according to the analysis of the characteristics of the space background environment and the imaging characteristics of the TOF camera, a physics-based amplitude modulated continuous wave (AMCW) TOF camera imaging simulation method for space targets based on the improved path tracing is proposed. Firstly, the microfacet bidirectional reflection distribution function (BRDF) model of several typical space target surface materials is fitted according to the measured BRDF data in the TOF camera response band to make it physics-based. Secondly, an improved path tracing algorithm is developed to adapt to the TOF camera by introducing a cosine component to characterize the modulated light in the TOF camera. Then, the imaging link simulation model considering the coupling effects of the BRDF of materials, the suppression of background illumination (SBI), optical system, detector, electronic equipment, platform vibration, and noise is established, and the simulation images of the TOF camera are obtained. Finally, ground tests are carried out, and the test shows that the relative error of the grey mean, grey variance, depth mean, and depth variance is 2.59%, 3.80%, 18.29%, and 14.58%, respectively; the MSE, SSIM, and PSNR results of our method are also better than those of the reference method. The ground test results verify the correctness of the proposed simulation model, which can provide image data support for the ground test of TOF camera algorithms for space targets.

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Orbital Demonstration of Gossamer Structure Shape Estimation using Time-of-Flight Camera System

Kuwahara

Pala

Potier

et al. 2022

2022 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII)

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Time-of-Flight Monitoring Camera System of the De-orbiting Drag Sail for Microsatellite ALE-1

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

De-Orbit Maneuver Demonstration Results of Micro-Satellite ALE-1 with a Separable Drag Sail

De-Orbit Maneuver Demonstration Results of Micro-Satellite ALE-1 with a Separable Drag Sail

Physics-Based TOF Imaging Simulation for Space Targets Based on Improved Path Tracing

Orbital Demonstration of Gossamer Structure Shape Estimation using Time-of-Flight Camera System

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