Title :
Estimating the position of a sphere from range images
Author :
Clouse, Daniel ; Padgett, Curtis
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
Describes two algorithms for accurately locating a spherical object in space using data collected from a scanning laser range finder. This work is designed to support the capture phase of a future rendezvous and sample return mission to Mars. The first algorithm finds the parameters of the sphere which optimally fit the set of data points. This method is shown to be quite slow, and unlikely to meet the accuracy requirements of the mission. The second algorithm makes a set of almost-independent estimates of the position of the center of the sphere, one from each scan line of data. These estimates are combined using regression to produce an aggregate estimate of the sphere position. This second algorithm is both fast enough, and accurate enough to meet mission requirements.
Keywords :
laser ranging; optical radar; optical tracking; Mars; accuracy requirements; capture phase; mission requirements; range images; regression; scanning laser range finder; sphere position; spherical object; Aggregates; Algorithm design and analysis; Earth; Laboratories; Mars; Performance analysis; Phase estimation; Propulsion; Soil; Space technology;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference Proceedings, 2002. IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7231-X
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2002.1035386