A simple high precision method for extrapolating Sat-AIS system performance

SAT-AIS is gaining momentum thanks to the push of the users and to the different ongoing institutional and private initiatives. System performance characterization is a central task for the system design, as the constellation has to be sized efficiently to meet the user requirements. However due to the complexity of the systems, often composed of more than 10 satellites in a LEO constellation, this characterization can be extremely time consuming when a full processing approach is undertaken. This paper presents a method for extrapolating the system performance of a SAT-AIS constellation based on a partial characterization of the detection technology onboard the satellites of the constellation. An extensive validation of the extrapolation technique was carried out thanks to the valuable data collected by ESA in the frame of the Comparative Performance Assessment (CPA) carried out between the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012. Thanks to these data, the method was tested against full processing simulations for different systems, and was proven to be extremely accurate.