An Imaging Satellite System for Tactical Applications
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Tactical Imaging Experiment and Demonstration System (TIDES) goal is to develop a small imaging satellite for tactical applications where the field commander controls the satellite and achieves a launch on demand at a reasonable cost. The TIDES imaging payload is two modified Schmidt cameras, coupled with linear charged couple devices capable of producing 5 meter resolution at a 700 km polar sun synchronous orbit. Innovations such as Vector Quantization (VQ) technology with a new developed codebook processing chip (CPC) demonstrates the ability to compress images at ratios of 12 to 1 or greater reducing satellite to ground datalink bandwidth, on-board storage and power while producing images of high quality. The satellite and payload designs contain no moving parts: achieving high reliability, low cost and requiring minimal operational support. The mobile ground station permits operations from any location and can be operated by a single operator with minimum technical training and expertise. This paper presents the TIDES study and prototype results.
DOI: 10.26077/h3zz-6r30
Authors: Backman, Kent, Tate, Vince
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W126451677