Ultra-Compact Standalone Visual Relative Navigation

Astrobotic proposes the development and prototyping of UltraNav, a low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) visual relative navigation system capable of implementing modern vision-based navigation and modeling methods including Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO), and Structure-from-Motion (SfM). The UltraNav system components will provide a compact form factor that fits within approximately 1.5U (10 x 10 x 15 cm), weighs less than 2 kg, and requires less than 5 W to power, enabling its use in power-, mass-, and volume-constrained applications, such as CubeSats and SmallSats. The UltraNav system interfacing will be designed to enable flexibility of use as either a part of a larger navigation solution or as a standalone sensor on a small exploration spacecraft. A efficient radiation-tolerant System-on-Chip (SoC) will be integrated into a larger system that includes a camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU). This system will be used to test a version of the Astrobotic Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) algorithm that is modified to utilize UltraNav's processing capabilities and balance performance with the computational limits of the low SWaP system. Vision techniques are viable in many missions and across a variety of domains, in applications such as Entry, Decent, and Landing (EDL); Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D); and deep-space navigation. Phase II work will culminate with a low-cost, small form factor, stand-alone visual navigation platform, with a cost that is affordable to commercial and small-budget missions and the flexibility to be added to large-scale missions as a piece of a larger navigation system. The final product will have space applications ranging from CubeSats to AR&D and EDL assistance on large-scale human missions. More »