Abstract
When the Air Force Space Surveillance Network observes an object that does not correlate to an entry in the Space Object Catalog, it is called an Uncorrelated Track (UCT). Some of these UCTs arise from objects that are not in the Space Catalog. Before a new object can be added to the catalog, three or four UCTs must be associated so that a meaningful state can be estimated. Covariance matrices can be used to associate the UCTs in a more statistically valid and automated manner than the current labor-intensive process; however, the choice of parameters used to represent the orbit state have a large impact on the results. Covariance-based track association was performed in 10-day simulations of 1,000 space objects within a 20-km band of semimajor axis using many different orbit parameters and propagation methods and compared with a fixed position gate association method. It was found that Cartesian covariance with linearized propagation performed poorly, but when the covariance was propagated with the Unscented Transform the results were much better. Elliptical curvilinear coordinates also performed well, as did covariance in osculating equinoctial elements propagated with the Unscented Transform, but a covariance in mean equinoctial elements propagated with the Unscented Transform achieved the best results.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
SCHUMACHER, P. W., Jr. and COOPER, D. A. “Angles-Only Data Association in the Naval Space Surveillance System,” Proceedings of the 1994 Space Surveillance Workshop, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, April 5–7, 1994.
ALFRIEND, K. T. “A Dynamic Algorithm for Processing Uncorrelated Tracks,” presented as paper AAS 97–607 at the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Sun Valley, Idaho, August 4–7, 1997.
MAHALANOBIS, P. C. “On the Generalized Distance in Statistics,” Proceedings of the National Institute of Sciences of India, Vol. 2, 1936, pp. 49–55.
BLACKMAN, S. S. Multiple-Target Tracking with Radar Application. Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1986, pp. 363–365.
ALFRIEND, K. T. and LIM, J. “Performance of a Dynamic Algorithm for Processing Uncorrelated Tracks,” presented as paper AAS 99–365 at the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Girdwood, Alaska, August 15–19, 1999.
MILLER, J. G. “Special Perturbations Uncorrelated Track Processing,” presented as paper AAS 07–288, at the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Mackinac Island, Michigan, August 19–23, 2007.
HILL, K., ALFRIEND, K. T., and SABOL, C. “Covariance-based Uncorrelated Track Association,” presented as paper AIAA 2008–7211 at the AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Honolulu, HI, August 18–21, 2008.
JUNKINS, J. L., AKELLA, M. R., and ALFRIEND, K. T. “Non-Gaussian Error Propagation in Orbital Mechanics,” The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 44, No. 4, 1996, pp. 541–563.
SABOL, C., SUKUT, T., HILL, K., ALFRIEND, K. T., WRIGHT, B., LI, Y., and SCHUMACHER, P. “Linearized Orbit Covariance Generation and Propagation Analysis Via Simple Monte Carlo Simulations,” presented as paper AAS 10–134 at the AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference, San Diego, CA, February 14–17, 2010.
PARK, R. S. and SCHEERES, D. J. “Nonlinear Mapping of Gaussian Statistics: Theory and Applications to Spacecraft Trajectory Design,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 29, No. 6, 2006, pp. 1367–1375.
GIZA, D., SINGLA, P., and JAH, M. “An Adaptive Gaussian Sum Filtering Approach for Orbit Uncertainty Estimation,” presented as paper AAS 10–132 at the AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference, San Diego, CA, February 14–17, 2010.
JULIER, S. J. and UHLMANN, J. K. “A New Extension of the Kalman Filter to Nonlinear Systems,” Proceedings AeroSense: 11th Int. Symp. Aerospace/Defense Sensing, Simulation and Controls, 1997, pp. 182–193.
BROUCKE, R. A. and CEFOLA, P. J. “On the Equinoctial Orbit Elements,” Celestial Mechanics, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1972, pp. 303–310.
MILANI, A. “The Asteroid Identification Problem. I. Recovery of Lost Asteroids,” Icarus, Vol. 137, No. 2, 1999, pp. 269–292.
VALLADO, D. and MCCLAIN, W. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications. Microcosm Press, El Segundo, CA, 3rd ed., 2007, pp. 163–165.
COFFEY, S. L., NEAL, H. L., and BERRY, M. M. “Uncorrelated Observations Processing at Naval Space Command,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 25, No. 4, 2002, pp. 676–684.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, K., Sabol, C. & Alfriend, K.T. Comparison of Covariance Based Track Association Approaches Using Simulated Radar Data. J of Astronaut Sci 59, 281–300 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-013-0018-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-013-0018-1