The Neptec Three-Dimensional Laser Camera System: From Space Mission STS-105 to Terrestrial Applications

Visual enhancement of 3D images of rock faces for fracture mapping

“…Mah et al [14] acquired six images of the scene using the triangulation-based Laser Camera System (LCS) developed by Neptec Design Group of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada [16]. Each image is a point cloud acquired at a resolution of 1024 Â 1024 voxels from a distance of 3 m with a 301 Â 301 field of view, thereby covering a surface of 1.6 m 2 with a concentration of approximately 40 voxel/cm 2 .…”

Robust vision-based pose estimation of moving objects for Automated Rendezvous & Docking

“…In pose estimation of moving objects, "good" initial poses should be provided at the beginning of every ICP iteration. The initial guess for the pose can be taken from the previous estimated pose obtained from the ICP [14]. However, this can make the estimation process fragile when dealing with relatively fast moving target.…”

“…One can combine the nonlinear equations (14), (17), (19) in the standard form asẋ = f (x, ), which can be used for state propagation. However, the KF design also requires the statetransition matrix of the linearized system.…”

Vision-based localization for on-orbit servicing of a partially cooperative satellite

“…Despite the fact that active sensors such as LIDAR are effective for rendezvous, even under harsh lighting conditions (see for example the Neptec's Laser Camera System-LCS [6]), their high weight and power consumption prevents their intensive use for future missions, as passive, low weight and low power cameras are now widely available. Moreover, advances in image processing algorithms and computing power further motivate their usage for localization in space.…”