Method for identifying in a pre-established catalogue stars detected by a star sensor

A method of recognizing stars by comparing sensed stars defined by a star sensor from signals received from the sky and stars from a predefined catalog of stars, for a processing system using the star recognition, wherein calculation means are employed to perform the following operations:

• applying a selection criterion to select some stars from the sensed stars, the stars selected in this way being referred to as detected stars;
• matching the detected stars in pairs of stars referred to as detected doublets;
• matching the stars from the catalog in pairs of stars referred to as catalogue doublets;
• representing the catalogue doublets and the detected doublets in a characterization mathematical space to enable them to be compared;
• marking in that space the catalogue doublets referred to as likely doublets which, in that space, are in a certain vicinity of the detected doublets;
• creating matched pairs each comprising a star from a likely doublet referred to as a likely star and a detected star, and
• supplying to the processing system at least one list of matched pairs,
• characterized in that the calculating means are used to perform the following operations:
• grouping the stars from the likely doublets into classes, deeming two stars to belong to the same class if and only if the two stars are one and the same star or there is a path linking them, a path being a series of likely doublets such that any pair of consecutive doublets of the series has at least one star in common, and
• constructing lists so that the likely stars of the same list are the likely stars of the matched pairs of the same class.