US 11,748,897 B1
Optimized matched filter tracking of space objects
Hayden Burgoyne, Glendale, CA (US); Robert Jedicke, Kaneohe, HI (US); Joel C. Sercel, Lake View Terrace, CA (US); Juliana Richter, Los Angeles, CA (US); and Peter Stephen Gural, Lovettsville, VA (US)
Assigned to Trans Astronautica Corporation, Lake View Terrace, CA (US)
Filed by Trans Astronautica Corporation, Lake View Terrace, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/963,127.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/367,031, filed on Jun. 24, 2022.
Int. Cl. G06T 7/246 (2017.01); G06T 7/73 (2017.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01)
CPC G06T 7/246 (2017.01) [G06T 7/73 (2017.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01); G06T 2207/10032 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10144 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for reducing computational load in moving target detection analysis for faint moving objects, the system comprising:
an optical system configured to project images onto a digital focal plane;
a digital focal plane including an optically sensitive array configured to capture imagery data by transducing light entering through the optical system into digital data that can be stored in memory and processed digitally, the imagery data comprising multiple images in which each of the images corresponds to the image data from the optically sensitive array for a given exposure time, the optically sensitive array having a resolution defined by the size of pixels and subsequent grouping of the pixels into bins;
a memory configured to store the imagery data; and
an image processing system configured to analyze the imagery data to identify moving objects by:
establishing bins to match the bin size applied to the optically sensitive array and the resolution of the optical system, wherein each bin includes at least a number of pixels sufficient to capture a signal in the imagery data from a moving object as the signal of the moving object traverses the optically sensitive array over the course of the given exposure time;
establishing at least two tripwires on the focal plane of the optically sensitive array, each tripwire including at least one row or column of bins;
selecting a set of the images for processing; and
for each image in the set, processing the bins in each tripwire without processing the other bins corresponding to other pixels in the image.