Tracking a Non-Cooperative Target Using Real-Time Stereovision-Based Control: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Tracking a non-cooperative target is a challenge, because in unfamiliar environments most targets are unknown and unspecified. Stereovision is suited to deal with this issue, because it allows to passively scan large areas and estimate the relative position, velocity and shape of objects. This research is an experimental effort aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating a real-time non-cooperative target tracking methods using stereovision measurements only. A computer-vision feature detection and matching algorithm was developed in order to identify and locate the target in the captured images. Three different filters were designed for estimating the relative position and velocity, and their performance was compared. A line-of-sight control algorithm was used for the purpose of keeping the target within the field-of-view. Extensive analytical and numerical investigations were conducted on the multi-view stereo projection equations and their solutions, which were used to initialize the different filters. This research shows, using an experimental and numerical evaluation, the benefits of using the unscented Kalman filter and the total least squares technique in the stereovision-based tracking problem. These findings offer a general and more accurate method for solving the static and dynamic stereovision triangulation problems and the concomitant line-of-sight control.

Cooperative Visual-SLAM System for UAV-Based Target Tracking in GPS-Denied Environments: A Target-Centric Approach

“…In this work, it is assumed that there are available measurements of the altitude of the vehicles with respect to the target. Another single-robot scheme is presented in [36]. This work relies on stereo-vision; however, as it will be shown later, the use of this sensor is unreliable in the present problem that authors state.…”

End-to-end active non-cooperative target tracking of free-floating space manipulators

“…The target tracking of FFSM is usually completed by the vision system installed on it. There have been many research results on the tracking of space targets, especially non-cooperative targets in space (He et al, 2017; Ristic et al, 2013; Shtark and Gurfil, 2017; Thienel et al, 2006).…”

“…However, non-cooperative targets usually cannot be guaranteed to have distinctive feature points, which creates difficulties for target identification. Some on-orbit experiments have shown that there are challenges in the detection accuracy and robustness of non-cooperative target recognition (He et al, 2017; Ristic et al, 2013; Shtark and Gurfil, 2017; Thienel et al, 2006). In addition, the control and trajectory planning of FFSM systems require complex analysis and calculation based on system dynamics and kinematics with relatively harsh application constraints.…”

Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulations with Umbra Conditions for Spacecraft Rendezvous with PMD Visual Sensors

“…Lingenauber et al [ 5 ] presented a plenoptic camera for autonomous robot vision during OOS missions at very close range (as close as 2 m from a satellite mockup). The use of stereo vision allows the tracking [ 6 , 7 ] and the identification [ 8 ] of an illuminated non-cooperative target. Yilmaz et al considered infrared sensors for relative navigation for future ADR missions [ 9 ].…”