US 12,437,420 B2
Initial orbit determination using angular velocity and angular acceleration measurements
Jeffrey J. Bloch, Santa Fe, NM (US); and David E. Briscoe, Albuquerque, NM (US)
Assigned to Applied Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (US)
Filed by Applied Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (US)
Filed on Aug. 7, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/797,005.
Application 18/797,005 is a continuation of application No. 18/350,039, filed on Jul. 11, 2023, granted, now 12,080,000.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/389,538, filed on Jul. 15, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0394895 A1, Nov. 28, 2024
Int. Cl. G06T 7/20 (2017.01)
CPC G06T 7/20 (2013.01) [G06T 2207/10032 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining an orbit of an object, the system comprising:
a sensor configured to obtain light event data indicative of objects in orbits;
a data store;
at least one processor; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method of determining the orbit of the object, the method comprising:
detecting light events by the sensor,
wherein the light events are indicative of the objects and locations of the objects in a field of view of the sensor;
generating sensor data indicative of the light events detected by the sensor over time;
storing, in the data store, tracking data indicative of the objects and the locations of the objects over time based on the sensor data;
identifying the object from the tracking data;
determining angular velocity and angular acceleration of the object from the tracking data; and
determining an initial orbit of the object using the angular velocity and the angular acceleration.