CAM Optimization

For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt.

CAM (Collision Avoidance Maneuver) Optimization helps you find the best avoidance maneuver for an active conjunction event. A guided 6-step wizard sweeps through a range of delta-V magnitudes and maneuver directions, filters the results, lets you select an optimal candidate, and evaluates how that candidate would affect other future conjunctions on the same spacecraft. Route: Opened from the Conjunction Classification page via the CAM Optimization button.

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Wizard Overview

The CAM Optimization dialog is a 6-step wizard:

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Step 1: Conjunction

Select the conjunction event and alert data that will be used for the avoidance maneuver computation.

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Spacecraft Selection

The spacecraft is selected in the dialog header. Changing the spacecraft resets the conjunction selection.

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Conjunction Selection

Use the dropdown to select an active conjunction (only conjunctions with a future TCA are shown). Conjunctions are sorted by TCA ascending, and the first one is selected automatically. Each entry shows the conjunction code with a risk shield icon. Once selected, the conjunction card displays the TCA (Time of Closest Approach) and the Secondary Object name.

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Alert Selection

After selecting a conjunction, choose which alert (CDM) to use as the data source. Alerts are sorted by timestamp with the latest first, and the most recent alert is selected automatically. The alert card shows the Criticality level, Miss Distance (in meters), and PoC (Probability of Collision). Below the summary, the Primary Object and Secondary Object panels show the position vector, velocity vector, and position sigma in the RTN frame.

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Step 2: Constraints

Configure the sweep parameters and thruster that control how candidate maneuvers are computed.

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Hard-Body Radii

Hard-body radii are provided by the user. Information can sometimes be present as comments on the CDM file.

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Delta-V Range

Define the range of velocity changes to sweep through.

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Angular Sweep

Define the range of maneuver directions to sweep through.

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Thruster Selection

Select which thruster to use for computing burn parameters. The thruster’s specifications (thrust, ISP, max burn time, direction) are displayed for reference.

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Step 3: Time Filter

Optionally restrict the maneuver execution time to specific windows between now and TCA. By default, no execution windows are defined and all maneuver times between now and TCA are considered. Click Add Execution Window to restrict the search to specific time ranges. Set the mode to Inclusion (maneuver epochs within defined windows) or Exclusion (maneuver epochs avoid defined windows). Each window defines a start and end time using date-time pickers bounded between now and TCA. Only maneuvers within these windows will be considered. You can add multiple windows, but they cannot overlap — overlapping windows are flagged with a validation error. This step is optional, you can proceed to the next step without adding any windows.

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Step 4: Direction Filter

Optionally constrain maneuver directions using a directional cone in RTN (Radial-Tangential-Normal) space. Set the mode to Inclusion (only within the cone) or Exclusion (avoid the cone), then define the cone parameters. A reference-frame indicator badge appears next to the 3D Preview title showing RTN — the frame the cone axis components are expressed in. Hover the badge to see the full frame name and click Learn more to open the reference frame catalog for the canonical definition. This step is optional, leave the mode set to None to skip direction filtering. Running the computation: Clicking Next at the end of Step 4 triggers the sweep-filter computation. The system evaluates all combinations of delta-V magnitudes and sweep angles, applies the configured time and direction filters, and advances to Step 5 with the results.

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Step 5: Options

Review the sweep-filter results, select a candidate maneuver, and create the maneuver plan. The options shown correspond to the Pareto frontier of maneuver solutions. Only non-dominated candidates are displayed—each represents an optimal trade-off between Δv and collision risk (PoC). Solutions that are strictly worse (higher Δv and higher PoC) are filtered out.

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Scatter Plot

The scatter plot displays all remaining candidates after filtering. The Y-axis always shows Delta-V (m/s). Use the tabs above the chart to toggle the X-axis between Miss Distance (post-maneuver, linear scale) and Collision Probability (post-maneuver PoC, logarithmic scale). Interactions:

• Hover a point to see a tooltip with candidate details (delta-V, miss distance, post-PoC)
• Click a point to select it — the point turns green and grows larger

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Pipeline Statistics

A summary line below the chart shows the filtering pipeline:

N total candidates → X Pareto filtered, Y time filtered, Z direction filtered → M remaining

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Zero Remaining Candidates

If the pipeline returns zero remaining candidates, all feasible maneuvers were filtered out. This does not mean no maneuver exists, it means the current combination of constraints is too restrictive.
To recover candidates, go back and try the following adjustments:

• Widen the delta-V range in Step 2
• Edit execution windows in Step 3
• Increase the cone half-angle or remove the direction filter in Step 4.

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Selected Candidate Detail

When a candidate is selected, the detail panel shows:

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Plan Name and Description

After selecting a candidate, fill in the plan details:

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Creating the Plan

Click Create Maneuver Plan in the dialog footer to finalize. The system creates a maneuver plan linked to the conjunction event and the selected thruster. On success, the dialog closes and the new plan appears in the Burn Plan page.

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Step 6: Evaluate impact on

After selecting a candidate maneuver in Step 5, use Step 6 to evaluate how the candidate affects another future conjunction on the same spacecraft. The panel lets you pick one secondary conjunction at a time and compares its pre- and post-maneuver geometry side by side, surfacing any candidate that resolves the conjunction outright or degrades its PoC.

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Secondary Conjunction Selector

The panel header reads Evaluate impact on followed by an inline picker. The picker lists every other future conjunction on the same spacecraft, excluding the primary, excluding conjunctions whose CDM declares a rotating-RTN covariance frame, and bounded to the next 7 days from the candidate’s maneuver time. The first eligible conjunction is selected automatically — the one whose code is the smallest code strictly greater than the primary’s, falling back to the first by ascending sort. If no other future conjunctions exist for the spacecraft, the panel displays No other future conjunctions on this spacecraft. instead of the picker and table.

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Comparison Table

A 4-column table with the headers Field, Pre, Post, and Δ compares the selected secondary conjunction’s pre-maneuver values — read from its own cached record — against post-maneuver values returned by the secondary-impact evaluation, plus a Δ indicator for the rows where it carries a meaningful safety direction. A small disclaimer above the table reminds you that Ranking metric across CAM candidates — not a certified absolute collision probability. The Δ column colors follow safety direction, not numeric sign: an upward arrow on Miss Distance is green (farther apart is safer), a downward arrow on PoC is green (lower probability is safer), and vice versa. A neutral grey arrow means the value did not change; the cell is left empty for fields with no clear safety direction (TCA, Criticality) or when the Pre or Post value is missing.

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Cell Badges

Per-cell badges surface why a value should be read with caution. They appear inline next to the value they qualify. A small set of badges land on the Post PoC cell whenever the secondary-impact response carries the matching condition: Two badges land on the Post TCA cell: Additional Post-PoC badges render directly from the response’s reason codes. Common labels include Flat minimum, Horizon edge, Covariance degenerate, Default HBR, TLE covariance unavailable, Geometry indeterminate, Parent-CAM method mismatch, and — when the encounter-plane covariance is so elongated that the PoC engine falls back to an aspect-ratio strategy — Ar fallback or Ar extreme. New backend reason codes appear here as soon as they ship: the frontend renders them in title case (CAPOC_X_Y → X y) without a separate release. When a cell has no badge, the value carries no caveats.

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Row Badges

Row-level badges live in a footer below the table and describe the row as a whole, not a single cell.

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Retry

When an evaluation fails (network error, refinement non-convergence, propagator error, etc.), a Retry button appears in the footer alongside the row badges. Click Retry to re-run the evaluation for the currently selected conjunction without changing the candidate selection.

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Ranking Degraded Ribbon

When the selected conjunction’s post-maneuver TCAs span more than one primary orbital period across the swept candidates, a Ranking degraded alert ribbon appears above the table:

Ranking degraded: candidates’ post-maneuver TCAs on at least one selected conjunction span more than one primary orbital period

The ribbon signals that the per-candidate PoC ranking is no longer reliable for the affected row, because different candidates resolve to genuinely different encounter geometries instead of small perturbations of the same one. Cross-check the candidate against the Step 5 scatter before committing to a plan.

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Key Concepts

For foundational concepts like delta-V, Probability of Collision (PoC), miss distance, and conjunctions, see Core Concepts. The following concepts are specific to CAM optimization:

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Sweep Angle

The direction of the avoidance maneuver in the orbital plane, measured in degrees. The system sweeps through a range of angles to evaluate maneuver effectiveness in different directions.

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Pareto Filtering

After computing all candidate maneuvers, the system applies Pareto filtering to identify the optimal frontier — candidates where no other option is better in both delta-V cost and collision risk reduction. This eliminates dominated solutions, leaving only the most efficient trade-offs.

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Related Pages

• Conjunction Classification — View and manage conjunction events and risk levels
• Conjunction Computation — Recompute conjunction assessments with your own state vectors
• Burn Plan — View and manage spacecraft maneuver plans