thesis on tracking iridium satellites... measuring magnitude beforeand after flares

I'm working on a theoretical model to estimate the magnitude of iridium
satellites before,during and after flares.

I'd love to talk to some people who have experience with calculations of
this kind.

The ultimate goal is to estimate magnitude of other satellites during
daytime (i.e. detect satellites during daytime).

I'm working with some folks to develop a matlab model and will hopefully
implement some bi-directional reflectance distribution functions (BRDF)
for a variety of materials. Atmospheric attenuation via Modtran.

Thanks

Alistair
Dayton, OH