A Radar System for Universal Satellite Monitoring
- Paper ID
IAF-60-45
- author
- company
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
- country
U.S.A.
- year
1960
- abstract
This paper describes a radar/computer system which has the following objectives: (1) To detect all satellites (silent or otherwise) up to at least 1000 miles for 1 m1 2 satellites and determine the characteristics of their orbits, (2) To maintain a catalog and publish ephemerides. (3) To give automatic warning of the presence of a new satellite or of the departure from normal of an existing satellite. (4) The system is intended to operate in the face of high density traffic. The system breaks down into the sensors (radars), the radar data processing and local computer, the communication links and the central computing center. The paper first discusses the necessity for such a system from both the military and scientific point of view. In order to determine the characteristics of the radar, it is necessary to first make some assumptions as to the number and probable distribution of satellites over the next few decades. The requirements for the radar are that it must be capable of determining the position and velocity of each satellite on each passage within its coverage, in the presence of other satellites and with sufficient accuracy to ensure that the satellite will be recognized when it is next detected. The radar data must next be converted into a form suitable for transmission over a data link. A certain amount of data reduction will have to be made at the site to filter out tracks due to meteor trails and other false alarms. The processed data must be transmitted back to the central computing station with a high degree of reliability. At the central computer, high speed digital computers will correlate the information received from remote stations, derive orbit parameters, keep a catalog up-to- date, supply future positions on request and give warning when a new satellite is detected or an old one has changed orbit.