We have constructed a near-infrared imaging camera which is attached to the prime focus of 105cm Schmidt telescope at Kiso Observatory. The camera is equipped with a 1040×1040 PtSi CSD array developed by Mitsubishi Electric Co. The combination of Kiso Schmidt and the array gives a wide field of view of 18.4'×18.4' with a reasonable spatial resolution of 1.06' /pixel. The system performances of the camera have been evaluated through laboratory and observational tests. Low noise, good cosmetics(no defect pixels), and good stability of the camera system show an excellent performance for astronomical use.

An outline is given of our development of mosaic CCD cameras. Hardware and data reduction software of two operational cameras are described. Scientific objectives of wide-field imaging with the cameras are briefly described.

In this study, a batch least square estimator that utilizes optical observation data is developed and utilized to determine geostationary orbits (GEO). Through numerical simulations, the effects of error sources, such as clock errors, measurement noise, and the a priori state error, are analyzed. The actual optical tracking data of a GEO satellite, the Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS), provided by the optical wide-field patrol network (OWL-Net) is used with the developed batch filter for orbit determination. The accuracy of the determined orbit is evaluated by comparison with two-line elements (TLE) and confirmed as proper for the continuous monitoring of GEO objects. Also, the measurement residuals are converged to several arcseconds, corresponding to the OWL-Net performance. Based on these analyses, it is verified that the independent operation of electro-optic space surveillance systems is possible, and the ephemerides of space objects can be obtained.

The Optical Wide-field patroL-Network (OWL-Net) is a global optical network for Space Situational Awareness in Korea. The primary operational goal of the OWL-Net is to track Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites operated by Korea and to monitor the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) region near the Korean peninsula. To obtain dense measurements on LEO tracking, the chopper system was adopted in the OWL-Net’s back-end system. Dozens of angle-only measurements can be obtained for a single shot with the observation mode for LEO tracking. In previous work, the reduction process of the LEO tracking data was presented, along with the mechanical specification of the back-end system of the OWL-Net. In this research, we describe an integrity assessment method of time-position matching and verification of results from real observations of LEO satellites. The change rate of the angle of each streak in the shot was checked to assess the results of the matching process. The time error due to the chopper rotation motion was corrected after re-matching of time and position. The corrected measurements were compared with the simulated observation data, which were taken from the Consolidated Prediction File from the International Laser Ranging Service. The comparison results are presented in the In-track and Cross-track frame.

The optical wide-field patrol network (OWL-Net) is a Korean optical surveillance system that tracks and monitors domestic satellites. In this study, a batch least squares algorithm was developed for optical measurements and verified by Monte Carlo simulation and covariance analysis. Potential error sources of OWL-Net, such as noise, bias, and clock errors, were analyzed. There is a linear relation between the estimation accuracy and the noise level, and the accuracy significantly depends on the declination bias. In addition, the time-tagging error significantly degrades the observation accuracy, while the time-synchronization offset corresponds to the orbital motion. The Cartesian state vector and measurement bias were determined using the OWL-Net tracking data of the KOMPSAT-1 and Cryosat-2 satellites. The comparison with known orbital information based on two-line elements (TLE) and the consolidated prediction format (CPF) shows that the orbit determination accuracy is similar to that of TLE. Furthermore, the precision and accuracy of OWL-Net observation data were determined to be tens of arcsec and sub-degree level, respectively.

As described in the previous paper (Park et al. 2013), the detector subsystem of optical wide-field patrol (OWL) provides many observational data points of a single artificial satellite or space debris in the form of small streaks, using a chopper system and a time tagger. The position and the corresponding time data are matched assuming that the length of a streak on the CCD frame is proportional to the time duration of the exposure during which the chopper blades do not obscure the CCD window. In the previous study, however, the length was measured using the diagonal of the rectangle of the image area containing the streak; the results were quite ambiguous and inaccurate, allowing possible matching error of positions and time data. Furthermore, because only one (position, time) data point is created from one streak, the efficiency of the observation decreases. To define the length of a streak correctly, it is important to locate the endpoints of a streak. In this paper, a method using a differential convolution mask pattern is tested. This method can be used to obtain the positions where the pixel values are changed sharply. These endpoints can be regarded as directly detected positional data, and the number of data points is doubled by this result.

An algorithm to automatically extract coordinate and time information from optical observation data of geostationary orbit satellites (GEO satellites) or geosynchronous orbit satellites (GOS satellites) is developed. The optical wide-field patrol system is capable of automatic observation using a pre-arranged schedule. Therefore, if this type of automatic analysis algorithm is available, daily unmanned monitoring of GEO satellites can be possible. For data acquisition for development, the COMS1 satellite was observed with 1-s exposure time and 1-m interval. The images were grouped and processed in terms of “action”, and each action was composed of six or nine successive images. First, a reference image with the best quality in one action was selected. Next, the rest of the images in the action were geometrically transformed to fit in the horizontal coordinate system (expressed in azimuthal angle and elevation) of the reference image. Then, these images were median-combined to retain only the possible non-moving GEO candidates. By reverting the coordinate transformation of the positions of these GEO satellite candidates, the final coordinates could be calculated.

The detector subsystem of the Optical Wide-field Patrol (OWL) network efficiently acquires the position and time information of moving objects such as artificial satellites through its chopper system, which consists of 4 blades in front of the CCD camera. Using this system, it is possible to get more position data with the same exposure time by changing the streaks of the moving objects into many pieces with the fast rotating blades during sidereal tracking. At the same time, the time data from the rotating chopper can be acquired by the time tagger connected to the photo diode. To analyze the orbits of the targets detected in the image data of such a system, a sequential procedure of determining the positions of separated streak lines was developed that involved calculating the World Coordinate System (WCS) solution to transform the positions into equatorial coordinate systems, and finally combining the time log records from the time tagger with the transformed position data. We introduce this procedure and the preliminary results of the application of this procedure to the test observation images.