Field test implementation to evaluate a flash LIDAR as a primary sensor for safe lunar landing

Keim, Jason A.; Mobasser, Sohrab; Kuang, Da; Cheng, Yang; Ivanov, Tonislav; Johnson, Andrew; Goldberg, Hannah; Khanoyan, Garen; Natzic, David

doi:10.1109/aero.2010.5447024

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…First, the entire lidar trajectory for the flight was reconstructed using IMU, GPS and camera measurements. This process [7] placed the lidar hazards within 1m horizontally of the truth hazards. Furthermore, the lidar had a time-varying range bias which, combined with the above mentioned horizontal trajectory errors, caused the lidar data to be misaligned horizontally and vertically relative to the truth DEM.…”

Section: Test Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Analysis of flash lidar field test data for safe lunar landing

Johnson

Keim

Ivanov

2010

2010 IEEE Aerospace Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In May 2008, the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project conducted a helicopter field test of a commercial flash lidar to assess its applicability to safe lunar landing. The helicopter flew several flights, which covered a variety of slant ranges and viewing angles, over man-made and natural lunar-like terrains. The collected data were analyzed to assess the performance of the sensor and the performance of two algorithms: Hazard Detection (HD) and Hazard Relative Navigation (HRN). The collected flash lidar data were also used to validate a high fidelity flash lidar software model used in ALHAT Monte Carlo simulations. The field test results, combined with prior simulation results, advanced the technology readiness level of the HD algorithm to TRL 5 and the HRN algorithm to TRL 4. 12

show abstract

Section: Test Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The orientation sensor was not actually used while the analog camera was for real-time feedback on gimbal pointing. A comprehensive description of the FT1 hardware, ground infrastructure and trajectory reconstruction is given in [7]. The testing was conducted at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) and Death Valley National Park.…”

Section: Test Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of flash lidar field test data for safe lunar landing

Johnson

Keim

Ivanov

2010

2010 IEEE Aerospace Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To this end, the ALHA T program conducted several studies with numerous field campaigns to determine what the ideal sensors, algorithms, and processing capabilities should be for a terrain sensing/hazard detection system (HDS) [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hybrid FPGA/Tilera compute element for autonomous hazard detection and navigation

Villalpando

Werner

Carson

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To increase safety for future missions landing on other planetary or lunar bodies, the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHA T) program is developing an integrated sensor for autonomous surface analysis and hazard determination. The ALHAT Hazard Detection System (HDS) consists of a Flash LIDAR for measuring the topography of the landing site, a gimbal to scan across the terrain, and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), along with terrain analysis algorithms to identify the landing site and the local hazards. An FPGA and Manycore processor system was developed to interface all the devices in the HDS, to provide high-resolution timing to accurately measure system state, and to run the surface analysis algorithms quickly and efficiently. In this paper, we will describe how we integrated COTS components such as an FPGA evaluation board, a TILExpress64, and multi-threaded/multi-core aware software to build the HDS Compute Element (HDSCE). The ALHAT program is also working with the NASA Morpheus Project and has integrated the HDS as a sensor on the Morpheus Lander.This paper will also describe how the HDS is integrated with the Morpheus lander and the results of the initial test flights with the HDS installed. We will also describe future improvements to the HDSCE.

show abstract

“…5-8 The current-generation sensor suite includes of a flash Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) 9 based Hazard Detection System (HDS), 10 a Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), 11 and a long-range Laser Altimeter (LAlt). 12 These sensors and algorithms have been tested in dedicated labs, on specialized gantries, and within helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to evaluate performance, determine necessary revisions, and step toward next-generation implementations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparation and Integration of ALHAT Precision Landing Technology for Morpheus Flight Testing

Carson

Trawny

Robertson

et al. 2014

AIAA SPACE 2014 Conference and Exposition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project has developed a suite of prototype sensors for enabling autonomous and safe precision landing of robotic or crewed vehicles on solid solar bodies under varying terrain lighting conditions. The sensors include a Lidar-based Hazard Detection System (HDS), a multipurpose Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), and a long-range Laser Altimeter (LAlt). Preparation for terrestrial flight testing of ALHAT onboard the Morpheus free-flying, rocket-propelled flight test vehicle has been in progress since 2012, with flight tests over a lunar-like terrain field occurring in Spring 2014. Significant work efforts within both the ALHAT and Morpheus projects has been required in the preparation of the sensors, vehicle, and test facilities for interfacing, integrating and verifying overall system performance to ensure readiness for flight testing. The ALHAT sensors have undergone numerous stand-alone sensor tests, simulations, and calibrations, along with integrated-system tests in specialized gantries, trucks, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. A lunar-like terrain environment was constructed for ALHAT system testing during Morpheus flights, and vibration and thermal testing of the ALHAT sensors was performed based on Morpheus flights prior to ALHAT integration. High-fidelity simulations were implemented to gain insight into integrated ALHAT sensors and Morpheus GN&C system performance, and command and telemetry interfacing and functional testing was conducted once the ALHAT sensors and electronics were integrated onto Morpheus. This paper captures some of the details and lessons learned in the planning, preparation and integration of the individual ALHAT sensors, the vehicle, and the test environment that led up to the joint flight tests.

show abstract

Field test implementation to evaluate a flash LIDAR as a primary sensor for safe lunar landing

Cited by 22 publications

References 8 publications

Analysis of flash lidar field test data for safe lunar landing

Analysis of flash lidar field test data for safe lunar landing

A hybrid FPGA/Tilera compute element for autonomous hazard detection and navigation

Preparation and Integration of ALHAT Precision Landing Technology for Morpheus Flight Testing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About