Space Domain Awareness (SDA) is the study and monitoring of the situation in the space domain. This includes, inter alia, estimating the trajectories of objects in Earth orbit (and beyond), and predicting changes in those trajectories resulting from intentional and unintentional events. Our active topics of research in this area include, but are not limited to:
- Space Object (SO) Detection, Tracking, Identification, and Characterization (DTIC)
- SO catalog prediction (with uncertainties), estimation and maintenance
- Sensor tasking for catalog maintenance and SO characterization
- Initial orbit determination
Multi-Target Filtering/Tracking
Multi-target filtering refers to the joint data association and estimation of the state and/or characteristics of an SO. SSA requires the assignment of observations to objects (known as data association) before we can update our knowledge of the object’s position and velocity. While some argue that “space is big”, data association can be a non-trivial in cases with newly detect objects and/or break-up events. This work seeks to develop methods of multi-target filtering and tracking to enable joint data association and orbit state estimation in a single framework.
- Reifler, B. L. and B. A. Jones, “Tracking of Large Satellite Constellations Using a Partitioned GLMB Filter,” AAS 19-674, AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Portland, ME, August 11-15, 2019.
- Ravago, N., A.K. Shah, S.M. McArdle, B.A. Jones, “Mega-Constellation Tracking Using a Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter”, Proceedings of the SPIE, Defense + Commercial Sensing, Orlando, FL, April 15-19, 2018.
- Jones, B.A., “CPHD Filter Birth Modeling Using the Probabilistic Admissible Region,” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, In press, 2018.
- Ravago, N. and B.A. Jones, “Space Object Maneuver Detection in a Multi-Target Environment Using a Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter,” 1st IAA Conference on Space Situational Awareness, Orlando, FL, November 13-15, 2017.
- Jones, B.A., N. Hatten, N. Ravago, R.P. Russell, “Ground-based Tracking of Geosynchronous Space Objects with a GM-CPHD Filter,” Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, Maui, HI, September 20-23, 2016.
- Jones, B. A., B.-T. Vo, and B.-N. Vo, “Generalized Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Space-Object Tracking with Joint Prediction and Update,” AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Long Beach, CA, September 13-16, 2016.
- Jones, B. A., “Modeling Birth in a Space-Object CPHD Filter Using the Probabilistic Admissible Region”, International Conference on Information Fusion – Fusion 2016, Heidelberg, Germany, July 5-8, 2016.
- Jones, B.A., D.S. Bryant, B.-T. Vo, and B.-N. Vo, “Challenges of Multi-Target Tracking for Space Situational Awareness”, International Conference on Information Fusion – Fusion 2015, Washington, D.C., July 6-9, 2015.
- Jones, B.A., and B.-N. Vo, “A Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter for Space Object Tracking”, AAS 15-413, AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Williamsburg, VA, January 11-15, 2015.
Break-up Event Tracking
SO break-up events, such as collisions and explosions, can cause difficulty for multi-target tracking. In this research, we are developing models for such events in the context of a given multi-target filter/tracker.
- Bryant, D. S., B.-T. Vo, B.-N. Vo, and B. A. Jones, “A Generalized Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter with Object Spawning,” 2017. [Preprint]
- Bryant, D. S., E. D. Delande, S. Gehly, J. Houssineau, D. E. Clark, and B. A. Jones, “Spawning Models for the CPHD Filter,” IEEE Transactions in Signal Processing, 65(5):13124-13138, March 2017. [Preprint]
- Bryant, D. S. and B. A. Jones, “Fragmentation Event Tracking with the GM-CPHD Filter”, AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Napa, CA, February 14-18, 2016.
Sensor Tasking
Efficient resource utilization is a critical component of SSA. We require sensors to maintain an SO catalog and answer operator-driven hypotheses. This work leverages information theory to task a heterogenous sensor network to improve efficiency.
- Ravago, N., A.K. Shah, S.M. McArdle, B.A. Jones, “Mega-Constellation Tracking Using a Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter”, Proceedings of the SPIE, Defense + Commercial Sensing, Orlando, FL, April 15-19, 2018.
- Gehly, S., B. A. Jones, and P. Axelrad, “Search-Detect-Track Sensor Allocation for Geosynchronous Space Objects,” IEEE Transactions in Aerospace and Electronic Systems, In press, 2018.
- Gehly, S., B. A. Jones, and P. Axelrad, “A Sensor Allocation Scheme for Tracking Geosynchronous Space Objects,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 41, Number 11, pp. 149-163, 2018.
- Herz, A., E. Herz, K. Center, D. George, P. Axelrad, and Jones, B. A., “Utilizing Novel Non-Traditional Sensor Tasking Approaches to Enhance the Space Situational Awareness Picture Maintained by the Space Surveillance Network”, Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, Maui, HI, September 20-23, 2016.
- Herz, A., Jones, B. A., E. Herz, D. George, P. Axelrad, S. Gehly, “Heimdall System for MSSS Sensor Tasking”, Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, Maui, HI, September 15-18, 2015.