Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Dennison, Edwin W..
Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have now flown successfully in a number of space scientific and engineering instruments, and have rapidly become the preferred technology for most imaging applications. One of their earliest planned applications in space was in the precision (subarcsecond) star tracker for the Astro series of UV missions.
The extraction of precise positional information from CCD images of point-source and extended optical targets is considered, and three examples of CCD optical trackers for space-based operation are described. For ideal point sources, a centerfinding accuracy of 1/100 pixel and a measuremet jitter of less than 1/250 pixel have been obtained using thinned, backside-illuminated devices. Tracker accuracy is shown to be limited by small variation in the optical image shape. Techniques for tracking, and methods for searching the entire field for the desired targets, are also discussed.