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ATON (Autonomous Terrain-based Optical Navigation) for exploration missions: recent flight test results

Theil, Stephan and Ammann, Nikolaus Alexander and Andert, Franz and Franz, Tobias and Krüger, Hans and Lehner, Hannah and Lingenauber, Martin and Lüdtke, Daniel and Maass, Bolko and Paproth, Carsten and Wohlfeil, Jürgen (2018) ATON (Autonomous Terrain-based Optical Navigation) for exploration missions: recent flight test results. CEAS Space Journal. Springer. doi: 10.1007/s12567-018-0201-0. ISSN 1868-2502.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-018-0201-0

Abstract

Since 2010 the German Aerospace Center is working on the project Autonomous Terrain-based Optical Navigation (ATON). Its objective is the development of technologies which allow autonomous navigation of spacecraft in orbit around and during landing on celestial bodies like the Moon, planets, asteroids and comets. The project developed different image processing techniques and optical navigation methods as well as sensor data fusion. The setup---which is applicable to many exploration missions---consists of an inertial measurement unit, a laser altimeter, a star tracker and one or multiple navigation cameras. In the past years, several milestones have been achieved. It started with the setup of a simulation environment including the detailed simulation of camera images. This was continued by hardware-in-the-loop tests in the Testbed for Robotic Optical Navigation (TRON) where images were generated by real cameras in a simulated downscaled lunar landing scene. Data were recorded in helicopter flight tests and post-processed in real-time to increase maturity of the algorithms and to optimize the software. Recently, two more milestones have been achieved. In late 2016, the whole navigation system setup was flying on an unmanned helicopter while processing all sensor information onboard in real time. For the latest milestone the navigation system was tested in closed-loop on the unmanned helicopter. For that purpose the ATON navigation system provided the navigation state for the guidance and control of the unmanned helicopter replacing the GPS-based standard navigation system. The paper will give an introduction to the ATON project and its concept. The methods and algorithms of ATON are briefly described. The flight test results of the latest two milestones are presented and discussed.

Item URL in elib:https://elib.dlr.de/119557/
Document Type:Article
Title:ATON (Autonomous Terrain-based Optical Navigation) for exploration missions: recent flight test results
Authors:
AuthorsInstitution or Email of AuthorsAuthor's ORCID iDORCID Put Code
Theil, StephanUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5346-8091UNSPECIFIED
Ammann, Nikolaus AlexanderUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6091-4478UNSPECIFIED
Andert, FranzUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1638-7735UNSPECIFIED
Franz, TobiasUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1412-9625UNSPECIFIED
Krüger, HansUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9729-8450UNSPECIFIED
Lehner, HannahUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5377-4155UNSPECIFIED
Lingenauber, MartinUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9610-727XUNSPECIFIED
Lüdtke, DanielUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6758-1562UNSPECIFIED
Maass, BolkoUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2706-5432UNSPECIFIED
Paproth, CarstenUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0346-2169UNSPECIFIED
Wohlfeil, JürgenUNSPECIFIEDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1786-6460UNSPECIFIED
Date:29 March 2018
Journal or Publication Title:CEAS Space Journal
Refereed publication:Yes
Open Access:Yes
Gold Open Access:No
In SCOPUS:Yes
In ISI Web of Science:Yes
DOI:10.1007/s12567-018-0201-0
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:1868-2502
Status:Published
Keywords:Computer vision · Optical navigation · Sensor data fusion · Entry · Descent and landing
HGF - Research field:Aeronautics, Space and Transport
HGF - Program:Space
HGF - Program Themes:Space System Technology
DLR - Research area:Raumfahrt
DLR - Program:R SY - Space System Technology
DLR - Research theme (Project):R - Projekt ATON (old)
Location: Berlin-Adlershof , Braunschweig , Bremen , Oberpfaffenhofen
Institutes and Institutions:Institute of Space Systems > Navigation and Control Systems
Institute of Flight Systems > Unmanned Aircraft
Institut of Simulation and Software Technology > Software for Space Systems and Interactive Visualisation
Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics (since 2013) > Perception and Cognition
Institute of Optical Sensor Systems > Real-Time Data Processing
Deposited By: Theil, Dr.-Ing. Stephan
Deposited On:04 Apr 2018 13:19
Last Modified:21 Nov 2023 07:58

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