Space Target Attitude Estimation Based on Projection Matrix and Linear Structure

Attitude estimation of space targets can reveal crucial details about payload orientation, movement intentions, and observation area, all of which are vital in space situational awareness. Till now, inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) has become a mainstream sensor for space target observation, providing rich information for space target attitude estimation. Based on projection matrix and linear structure extracted from ISAR images, a space target attitude estimation method is proposed in this work. The main contribution falls on two parts. On the one hand, linear structure is derived based on the peak accumulation values of original ISAR images rather than binary images. On the other hand, the space target attitude information is effectively estimated based on the projection matrix theory and linear structure extraction results. Experimental studies with measured and simulated data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.