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The main objective of the proposed project, "RESTORE - Atmosphere Reentry Satellites Orbital Parameters Refinement", is to develop a system for observing the trajectories of satellites on degraded orbits and updating their orbital parameters. The system will be a wide-field visual sensor, equipped with real-time processing capabilities, designed to continuously update the orbital parameters. The refined orbital parameters can be used for a more accurate immediate prediction of the future position of the objects, improving re-entry location predictions, or can be utilized by a narrow-field telescope or radar system for more detailed observations.
In this project, we intend to develop two systems operating in parallel to detect, measure, and refine the orbital parameters of re-entering satellites. Each system will be capable of operating independently, performing the following tasks: image acquisition, image processing, astrometric calibration, target identification based on orbital parameters, and orbital parameter refinement based on observations. The refined parameters will be transmitted to the second system, which may apply an additional refinement step and will also serve as a validator of the new parameters by comparing its predictions with its own observations.

The expected original contributions are:
- development of a dual optical observation system for satellites on re-entry orbits, capable of real-time orbital parameter updating based on simultaneous observations
- implementation of original algorithms for detection, astrometric calibration, and automatic identification of satellites in wide-field images
- design and validation of an innovative method for orbital parameter refinement, combining theoretical predictions with experimentally obtained measurements


Team

From the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca the following key persons:

From Control Data Systems SRL:


Activities

The activities are organized into three stages, corresponding to the three years of project implementation.

Stage 1: September 2024 – December 2024.

  • Definition of the hardware and software architecture for the dual system dedicated to observing and measuring satellites on re-entry orbits. Study of validation scenarios and preliminary acquisition of real data using existing systems. Result: technical reports on system architecture and validation methodology, as well as the first sets of experimental data.

Stage 2: January 2025 – December 2025.

  • Construction and implementation of the hardware observation systems and the complete software suite for real-time satellite detection, calibration, and identification. Development of algorithms for orbital parameter refinement and validation of individual components. Result: two functional systems, integrated software modules, and the first scientific publications.

Stage 3: January 2026 – August 2026.

  • Final integration of the hardware and software components into a complete system for observation and orbital refinement of re-entry satellites. Experimental validation on real-case scenarios and dissemination of the results through scientific papers, conferences, and the project’s website.


Publications

Conferences:



Reports

Phase 1 report here.


Contact

Radu Danescu

Address:
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Computer Science Department,
Str. Memorandumului, Nr. 28, 400 114, Cluj-Napoca
Romania

Office: Baritiu str. 26, room 37
Phone: +40 264 401457

E-mail:
Radu.Danescu@cs.utcluj.ro



Full project name:
RESTORE - Atmosphere REentry SaTellites Orbital Parameters REfinement

Contract:
PN-IV-P7-7.1-PED-2024-0369

Funding:
Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI