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Koidl, Franz

Publications and source records attributed to Koidl, Franz.

Work at Graz on satellite signatures

The size and shape of the satellites retroreflector arrays have a major impact on the distribution and scatter of the return signal; this can be seen clearly when reaching sub-cm ranging accuracies and when using Single-Photon Detectors with single- or multi-photon returns; for other receiver systems (using MCP's), it should be checked also. As a consequence, the necessary center-of-mass correction for some satellites will differ, depending on the receiver systems. While this effect is not yet visible on small satellites or small retro-reflector arrays (like STARLETTE, ERS1), it can be in the order of centimeters on AJISAI or ETALON.

Kirchner, Georg↗

Sub-cm ranging and other improvements in Graz

A lot of tests and experiments have been made in Graz during the last 2 years to increase performance and accuracy; using the SPAD from the Prag group as receiver, we have reached now about 5 mm RMS from the calibration target, and about 8 mm RMS from ERS1 and STARLETTE. In addition, by routinely using the semitrain, the number of returns has been increased significantly for most satellites.

Kirchner, Georg↗