Specialists of JSC "Scientific Research Institute of Precision Instruments" (NIITP, part of "Roscosmos") have developed a new method to improve the accuracy and reliability of measurements during docking of spacecraft - it will eliminate manual docking in situations when the spacecraft automation refuses to "catch" the space station.

The problem is that when the mutual measurement system "Course" used on the ISS is operating, a large number of signal reflections are generated from various station structures (from various modules, batteries, farms, etc.), which distort the parameters measured during docking, so in such situations docking has to be performed manually.

"The essence lies in the method of forming a matrix model of spatial-temporal signals reflected from the observed multi-point target, without knowing the statistics of their distribution. Such a model allows digital processing of the set of received signals and significantly suppress reflected signals, thereby improving the accuracy of measurements", - said the chief designer of radio engineering systems of mutual measurements NIITP Sergey Medvedev.