TINYV3RSE: The DART Vision-Based Navigation Test-bench

Pugliatti, Mattia; Franzese, V.; Panicucci, Paolo; Topputo, Francesco

doi:10.2514/6.2022-1193

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This work presents TinyV3RSE by focusing on its design, theoretical performances, functional workflow, geometrical calibration, and applications. This paper is an extension of previous work presented in Panicucci et al [ 7 ] and Pugliatti et al [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 61%

The TinyV3RSE Hardware-in-the-Loop Vision-Based Navigation Facility

Panicucci

Topputo

2022

Sensors

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The increase in number of interplanetary probes has emphasized the need for spacecraft autonomy to reduce overall mission costs and to enable riskier operations without ground support. The perception of the external environment is a critical task for autonomous probes, being fundamental for both motion planning and actuation. Perception is often achieved using navigation sensors which provide measurements of the external environment. For space exploration purposes, cameras are among the sensors that provide navigation information with few constraints at the spacecraft system level. Image processing and vision-based navigation algorithms are exploited to extract information about the external environment and the probe’s position within it from images. It is thus crucial to have the capability to generate realistic image datasets to design, validate, and test autonomous algorithms. This goal is achieved with high-fidelity rendering engines and with hardware-in-the-loop simulations. This work focuses on the latter by presenting a facility developed and used at the Deep-space Astrodynamics Research and Technology (DART) Laboratory at Politecnico di Milano. First, the facility design relationships are established to select hardware components. The critical design parameters of the camera, lens system, and screen are identified and analytical relationships are developed among these parameters. Second, the performances achievable with the chosen components are analytically and numerically studied in terms of geometrical accuracy and optical distortions. Third, the calibration procedures compensating for hardware misalignment and errors are defined. Their performances are evaluated in a laboratory experiment to display the calibration quality. Finally, the facility applicability is demonstrated by testing imageprocessing algorithms for space exploration scenarios.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 61%

The TinyV3RSE Hardware-in-the-Loop Vision-Based Navigation Facility

Panicucci

Topputo

2022

Sensors

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“…The experiment is designed to be run as close as possible to real-time, as a sort of shadow-engineering simulation which is also useful to monitor closely the performance of the GNC system. An additional element for this experiment could be the simultaneous usage of the TinyV3RSE facility [21] to reproduce the optical environment in the Didymos system. With such a facility, it would be possible to test the robustness of the IP in a higher fidelity environment.…”

Section: Autonomous Optical Navigation Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Milani mission: overview and architecture of the optical-based GNC system

Pugliatti

Rizza

Piccolo

et al. 2022

AIAA SCITECH 2022 Forum

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Milani is a 6U CubeSat that will be part of the Hera mission around the Didymos binary system. Its objectives are both scientific and technological: to study and characterize the Didymos environment, and to demonstrate the use of CubeSat technologies for interplanetary missions. The latter includes the usage of autonomous navigation algorithms in a close-proximity environment. The purpose of this work is twofold. First, to provide an updated overview of the Milani mission. Second, for the first time, to illustrate the architecture and some preliminary results of the semi-autonomous optical-based GNC system.

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“…Therefore, to obtain images with a more realistic error representation, the exploitation of real hardware becomes necessary inside the image generation step. At this aim, optical facilities that include a real optical sensor can be exploited [17,[22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hardware-In-the-Loop Validation of Autonomous Interplanetary Navigation Algorithms for Interplanetary Cruises with the Optical Star Stimulator

Andreis,

Krüger,

Woicke

et al. 2024

AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum

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Thanks to the rising focus on deep-space exploration and exploitation, the demand for sustainable and efficient navigation approaches has become crucial. Standard ground-based radiometric tracking, while accurate, is expensive and resourceintensive, posing long-term sustainability challenges. Therefore, enhancing spacecraft autonomy is crucial to avoid ground station saturation. Autonomous onboard guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) offer cost reduction and expand interplanetary exploration opportunities. Among various navigation alternatives, vision-based navigation (VBN) stands out for its cost-effectiveness, ground independence, and applicability to different spacecraft classes. Ground testing campaigns are crucial to ensure accurate and robust vision-based navigation algorithms for interplanetary missions. However, obtaining real interplanetary sky-field images for validation is challenging due to limited successful missions and datasets. To overcome these limitations, high-fidelity rendering engines and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations are necessary to generate image datasets for testing. This work presents the development of a procedure for on-ground testing and validation of autonomous navigation algorithms for interplanetary cruises using Jena Optronik's Optical Sky Stimulator (OSI) at the DLR GNC Department in Bremen. The proposed paper includes preparation activities, calibration and compensation procedures, and final hardware-in-the-loop simulations.

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TINYV3RSE: The DART Vision-Based Navigation Test-bench

Cited by 4 publications

References 19 publications

The TinyV3RSE Hardware-in-the-Loop Vision-Based Navigation Facility

The TinyV3RSE Hardware-in-the-Loop Vision-Based Navigation Facility

The Milani mission: overview and architecture of the optical-based GNC system

Hardware-In-the-Loop Validation of Autonomous Interplanetary Navigation Algorithms for Interplanetary Cruises with the Optical Star Stimulator

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