Parallel Algorithm for Track Initiation for Optical Space Surveillance

We propose a type of admissible-region analysis for track initiation in multi-satellite problems when angles are the primary observable. For a specified rectangular partition in the space of orbital elements, we present explicit upper and lower bounds, and other constraints, for the values of range and range rate that will lead to initial orbit hypotheses (data association hypotheses) associated with that partition. These bounds allow us to generate candidate orbits in an embarrassingly parallel fashion because each element-space partition can be handled independently of the others. Measured or derived angle rates provide additional bounds on range and range rate, also permitting the same parallelization.