Title
Vision-aided inertial navigation for spacecraft entry, descent, and landing
Abstract
In this paper, we present the vision-aided inertial navigation (VISINAV) algorithm that enables precision planetary landing. The vision front-end of the VISINAV system extracts 2-D-to- 3-D correspondences between descent images and a surface map (mapped landmarks), as well as 2-D-to-2-D feature tracks through a sequence of descent images (opportunistic features). An extended Kalman filter (EKF) tightly integrates both types of visual feature observations with measurements from an inertial measurement unit. The filter computes accurate estimates of the lander's terrain-relative position, attitude, and velocity, in a resource-adaptive and hence real-time capable fashion. In addition to the technical analysis of the algorithm, the paper presents validation results from a sounding-rocket test flight, showing estimation errors of only 0.16 m/s for velocity and 6.4 m for position at touchdown. These results vastly improve current state of the art for terminal descent navigation without visual updates, and meet the requirements of future planetary exploration missions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2009
10.1109/TRO.2009.2012342
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Keywords
Field
DocType
Inertial navigation,Space vehicles,Space technology,NASA,Laboratories,Extraterrestrial measurements,Measurement units,Orbital robotics,Mars,Propulsion
Inertial navigation system,Computer vision,Extended Kalman filter,Touchdown,Sensor fusion,Attitude control,Kalman filter,Inertial measurement unit,Artificial intelligence,Mathematics,Spacecraft
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
25
2
1552-3098
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
79
4.33
23
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Anastasios I. Mourikis1101857.50
Nikolas Trawny226217.00
Stergios I. Roumeliotis32124151.96
Andrew E. Johnson443767.01
Adnan Ansar527619.86
Larry Matthies629822.88