# SatSplatYOLO: 3D Gaussian Splatting-based Virtual Object Detection Ensembles for Satellite Feature Recognition

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.02533 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02533/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 16 of its 37 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Jun 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.03924/) (2018)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Feature Pyramid Networks for Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.03144/) (2016)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [SSD: Single Shot MultiBox Detector](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.02325/) (2015)
- [YOLOv4: Optimal Speed and Accuracy of Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.10934/) (2020)
- [YOLOv7: Trainable bag-of-freebies sets new state-of-the-art for real-time object detectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.02696/) (2022)
- [Path Aggregation Network for Instance Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.01534/) (2018)
- [Spatial Pyramid Pooling in Deep Convolutional Networks for Visual Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1406.4729/) (2014)
- [CSPNet: A New Backbone that can Enhance Learning Capability of CNN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.11929/) (2019)
- [YOLOv6: A Single-Stage Object Detection Framework for Industrial Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.02976/) (2022)
- [OverFeat: Integrated Recognition, Localization and Detection using Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6229/) (2013)
- [A Spacecraft Dataset for Detection, Segmentation and Parts Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08186/) (2021)
- [Performance Study of YOLOv5 and Faster R-CNN for Autonomous Navigation around Non-Cooperative Targets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.09056/) (2023)
- [Characterizing Satellite Geometry via Accelerated 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02588/) (2024)
- [Autonomous Rendezvous with Non-cooperative Target Objects with Swarm Chasers and Observers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.09059/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Enforcing View-Consistency in Class-Agnostic 3D Segmentation Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09928/) (2024)
- [SwiftGS: Episodic Priors for Immediate Satellite Surface Recovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.18634/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

On-orbit servicing (OOS), inspection of spacecraft, and active debris removal (ADR). Such missions require precise rendezvous and proximity operations in the vicinity of non-cooperative, possibly unknown, resident space objects. Safety concerns with manned missions and lag times with ground-based control necessitate complete autonomy. In this article, we present an approach for mapping geometries and high-confidence detection of components of unknown, non-cooperative satellites on orbit. We implement accelerated 3D Gaussian splatting to learn a 3D representation of the satellite, render virtual views of the target, and ensemble the YOLOv5 object detector over the virtual views, resulting in reliable, accurate, and precise satellite component detections. The full pipeline capable of running on-board and stand to enable downstream machine intelligence tasks necessary for autonomous guidance, navigation, and control tasks.