Infrared (IR) Earth thermal image tracking has potential to enable optical communications throughout the solar system and is a promising alternative to traditionally proposed laser beacon tracking. Image blurring due to finite receiver aperture size introduces distortions to IR Earth image in the presence of Earth's non-uniform emissivity and reduces the centroiding accuracy in identifying the center of the Earth. The impact is largest in the 0.5 to 2 AU range. We demonstrate that a deconvolution algorithm can mitigate the effect of blurring associated with IR Earth non-uniformity and improve centroiding edge detection accuracy.

Date Published: 1 March 2006
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6105, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XVIII, 61050E (1 March 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.660269

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6105:
Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XVIII
G. Stephen Mecherle, Editor(s)