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Planetary Aerobots
3D Vision system for a free-flying martian balloon
Function
Subcontractor of SciSys Ltd UK.
Contact Information
Gerhard Paar
Description
The primary objective of this ESA Study (cooperation with SciSys (UK) as prime and Aberystwyth University (UK)) was to study, design and prototype an Imaging and Localisation Package (ILP) for a free-flying martian balloon in order to investigate and demonstrate the viability of such a mission. An ILP package will allow optimal acquisition of images to reconstruct accurate models of the surface of the explored planet and accurate localisation of the balloon with respect to the Martian surface. The ILP, by means of aerobot mounted camera and computer vision techniques successfully demonstrated the following components:
- acquire and store images of the surface at various resolutions
- construct and update a 3D model (DEM) of the surface (main JR task)
- constantly estimate the position (latitude, longitude and altitude) of the aerobot as well as its motion with respect to the surface
- decide on the base of the communications budget, of the morphology of the surface and of the scientific information content and importance of the images, which images at which resolution/compression need to be transmitted to Earth.
Project Duration
2005-2007
Main Partners
- SciSys http://www.scisys.co.uk
-
Aberystwyth University
http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/
Funding
- ESA
Figure 1: Artist view of an aerobot on Mars (Credits:SciSys)
Figure 2: Aerobot test at ESTEC (Credits: SciSys)
Figure 3: Aerobot test at ESTEC (Credits: SciSys)
Videos
- Aerobot Animation (Credits: SciSys) AerobotAnimation.avi
- Aerobot Test at European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) AerobotVideo_1.wmv
References
Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Woods, M, Ward, R,
Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2006).
Autonomous Image Based Localisation For A
Martian Aerobot
In: ISPRS Symposion “From Sensors to Imagery”, Paris, July 3-6,
2006.
Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Ward, R, Woods, M,
Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2004).
Imaging and Localisation Package for a Martian
Balloon Based Aerobot
In: 8th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and
Automation, 'ASTRA 2004' –Nov. 2-4 2004, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The
Netherlands, pp. 8.
Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Ward, R, Woods, M,
Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2004).
Imaging and localisation software demonstrator
for planetary aerobots
In: Proc. DASIA 2004 - DAta Systems In Aerospace, June 28 – July 1,
2004, Nice, vol. 59, pp. 1062-1070. Ars Austronautica - Selected Papers
from.
Woods, M, Evans, M, Ward, R, Barnes, D, Shaw, A,
Summers, P, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2004).
Developing an autonomous imaging and
localisation capabilty for planetary aerobots
In: 5th IFAC/EURON Symposium on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles -
IAV2004 Jully 5 - 7, 2004 Lisbon, Portugal.
Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Ward, R, Woods, M,
Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2003).
Imaging and Localisation Software Demonstrator
for Planetary Aerobots
In: Fifth IAA International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions,
24-26 September 2003, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
