This week, I investigated optimal camera configurations for reliable star detection under nighttime conditions. I researched how exposure time, gain, and aperture impact signal-to-noise ratio, motion blur, and star visibility, especially given the UAV’s motion. I explored trade-offs between longer exposure, which gives brighter stars but increased motion blur, and shorter exposure, which has reduced blur but lower signal strength.
I am currently on schedule, as this week was intended to narrow down hardware and imaging parameter considerations before implementation. In the immediate next steps, I plan to begin testing different exposure and gain combinations on sample nighttime imagery and evaluate detection performance quantitatively.