SAN FRANCISCO – Australian startup Infinity Avionics is developing a dual-headed camera system for space-based space surveillance.
With roughly 1 million Australian dollars ($660,000) provided by the Australian research consortium SmartSat CRC, the Australian Capital Territory government and internal research funding, Canberra-based Infinity Avionics is working with the University of Recent South Wales Canberra Space and Australian startup Nominal Systems to develop technology to autonomously detect space objects.
“We’re attempting to detect pieces of debris that are too small for radars to select up,” Igor Dimitrijevic, Infinity Avionics founder and CEO, told “We also can observe other spacecraft which may be uncontrolled or where more information is required as a consequence of an anomaly.”
The camera system features a wide field of view event sensor that responds to changes in light but doesn’t produce images.
“It has a really high dynamic range in comparison with a traditional image sensor,” Dimitrijevic said. “We will see very faint changes or very faint events.”
Tip and Cue
When the event camera detects changes or movement, it tasks the coaligned narrow field of view camera to gather imagery.
“This permits us to detect events or movements that you simply would miss with a traditional camera,” Dimitrijevic said. “And if you’ve a traditional camera, you’ve to continuously take frames which generates enormous amounts of information, which you’ll be able to never downlink. With this dual-head camera system, we’re capable of discover or detect events and capture them by generating a small amount of information that’s easy to administer when it comes to downlink and processing.”
Digital twinning technology from Canberra-based Nominal Systems helps Infinity Avionics simulate the concept of operations for the dual-headed camera system and validate requirements.
“We’re already providing cameras and sensors for similar applications for space-based space surveillance,” said Damith Abeywardana, Infinity Avionics founder and managing director. “That is an improved system to automate and add some smarts to the cameras.”
UNSW Spinoff
Infinity Avionics, a by-product from the University of Recent South Wales in Canberra, was founded in 2020. The startup produces optical sensors and computer processors along with providing engineering consulting services directly and thru international partners.
Prior to co-founding the startup, Dimitrijevic was the lead electronics engineer within the University’s space group.
Potential customers for the dual-headed camera system include Australian Space Command and international organizations.