Development of an Image Stabilization System based on Fast Steering Mirrors for High-Speed Tracking Applications

Abstract

The aim of this work is the development, integration, and validation of a camerabased tip-tilt compensation system for high-frequency tracking in optical systems for objects such as satellites or space debris. Furthermore, an FSM is integrated into a prototype OGS to significantly extend the available control bandwidth compared to conventional telescope mounts. The central question is whether a purely camera-based system can take over the tasks of a QPD without sacrificing accuracy and bandwidth. The developed system architecture is based on a cascaded control concept with two stages. The inner/position control loop uses an FSM for high-frequency corrections, while the outer/image control loop employs a high-speed camera to provide the image information. In this way, atmospheric disturbances are attenuated, ranging from quasistatic effects to high-frequency turbulence in the range of over 120 Hz, and the system operates entirely without additional sensors such as QPDs. Laboratory measurements achieved a compensation bandwidth of 40 Hz while disturbance rejection up to 20 Hz has been demonstrated in real-world measurements, constrained by the noise floor ofthe compensation system.The study confirmed that a purely camera-based system, with careful selection of the camera and FSM bandwidth and a sufficiently high sampling rate, can achieve comparable or even better performance than a QPD-based system. The combination of a high-frequency camera, optimized control, and fast image processing enables precise and low-latency tracking. However, the approach requires overcoming specific challenges, including higher hardware costs, the complexity of the system architecture, as well as requirements for real-time transmission and the camera’s noise performance. For application-oriented scenarios, the study provides specific recommendations for reducing latencies, such as optimizing software pipelines and faster data transmission protocols.Improving image processing algorithms to minimize exposure and readout times, and selecting suitable hardware that ensures an optimal balance between performance and cost.