Lunar Rover Localization Using Craters as Landmarks

Matthies, Larry; Daftry, Shreyansh; Tepsuporn, Scott; Yang, Cheng; Atha, Deegan; Swan, R. Michael; Ravichandar, Sanjna; Ono, M.

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2203.10073

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…For absolute positioning, planetary rovers relied "ground-in-the-loop" (GITL) processing of down-link images in which on-board images where interactively registered (i.e. mapping between local and global maps) to orbital imagery [17]. Such an approach, however, is impractical for autonomously operated vehicles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the global DEMs are available on-board the rover, they can be correlated against local DEMs to provide a global position [19]. However, variation in the solar illumination angle may lead to a change in the terrain appearance which complicates the image registration [17]. LIDAR (light detection and ranging) can be used to remove the dependency on surface illumination conditions [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tests on Earth in a Mars-Moon analogue environment when using 3D LIDAR scans for matching against a 3D orbital map for global navigation (complemented by visual odometry and a inclinometer/sun-sensor) resulted in in position errors smaller than 100 meter [16]. Finally, craters can be used as landmarks to yield a global navigation solution [17] obtaining high positioning accuracies (5 to 10 meter). Nevertheless, the position accuracy is determined by, among others, the size of the crater and illumination conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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LCNS Positioning of a Lunar Surface Rover Using a DEM Based Altitude Constraint

Melman¹,

Zoccarato²,

Orgel³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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With the renewed interest for lunar surface exploration, the European Space Agency envisions to stimulate the creation of lunar communications and navigation services (LCNS) to enable, among others, autonomous navigation capabilities for lunar rovers. As the number of satellites foreseen in such a service is much smaller compared to Earth based global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), different complementary technologies are pursued to improve the attainable navigation accuracy for lunar rovers. One way to improve the position accuracy provided by the LCNS satellites is to constrain the vertical position using a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM). This article presents the results of a variance covariance analysis of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) implementation in which the LCNS ranging measurements are used together with DEM from the LRO LOLA instrument. Assuming a realistic orbit determination and time synchronization (ODTS) accuracy of the LCNS satellites, the usage of a navigation grade IMU and an oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), a 3-sigma position accuracy of less than 10 meters can be obtained. Furthermore, the availability is substantially improved as the DEM aided solution enables a position solution in case of only 3 visible satellites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%