Ground testing of vision-based GNC systems by means of a new experimental facility

摘要

A new experimental facility for the testing of autonomous vision-based GNC algorithms, recently developed at Politecnico di Milano, Aerospace Science and Technology Department (DAER) is presented. The system core is a 7DoF robotic arm that moves a navigation camera reproducing the spacecraft dynamics around a target. Different targets are provided: a lunar terrain diorama for planetary landing simulation; a satellite mock-up for proximity GNC for rendezvous, docking and on-orbit servicing; an asteroid model to simulate proximity flight around small celestial bodies. The system can follow predefined trajectories, operating as a simple dataset generator; software-in-the-loop simulations are possible by coupling GNC with the spacecraft dynamics simulation. Different scale factors can be selected, simulating different phases of landing or close approach maneuvers. The system is designed to be upgradeable to perform real time hardware-in-the-loop simulations, with also the possibility to include additional sensors (eg. IMU, laser altimeter). The suite of autonomous GNC algorithms under study at DAER, and their preliminary experimental tests in the new facility are shown and discussed.