NII TP: Technology for improving the accuracy and reliability of measurements when docking spacecraft

2023: Developing a method to improve the accuracy and reliability of spacecraft docking measurements

JSC specialists, "Research Institute of Precision Instruments" (NII TP part of the State Corporation holding) Russian space systemsRoskosmos have developed a method for improving the accuracy and reliability of measurements when docking spacecraft. The technology is aimed at excluding the very situations when the ship's automation space refuses to "catch" the station and the astronauts have to switch to manual control. This "Russian Space Systems" reported on May 18, 2023.

One of the features of the operation of radio engineering systems, including the Kurs mutual measurement system, which provides docking of spacecraft with the International Comic Station, is the abundance of re-reflections of signals from elements of various structures. In the case of the ISS, which has a complex configuration and consists of various modules, batteries, trusses and other structures, the parameters measured during docking are often distorted, which can lead to the loss of "docking" contact between the spacecraft and the station.

The essence lies in the method of forming a matrix model of space-time signals reflected from the observed multipoint target, without knowing the statistics of their distribution. Such a model allows digital processing of a plurality of received signals and significantly suppressing the reflected signals, thereby improving the accuracy of measurements, said Sergey Medvedev, chief designer of radio engineering systems for mutual measurements at the Research Institute of Technical Research.

The technical result of the development of NII TP was an increase in measurement accuracy under conditions of re-reflection interference and, as a result, an increase in fault tolerance of systems for measuring parameters of relative motion of spacecraft.