Laboratory Experimentation of Autonomous Spacecraft Proximity-Navigation using Vision and Inertia Sensors

摘要

*This paper presents the current status of the research effort on spacecraft autonomous proximity-navigation and docking which is on-going at the Spacecraft Robotics Laboratory. An experimental test-bed has been designed and is in the advance integration phase. The test-bed consists of two spacecraft models floating via air-pads on a flat surface to simulate in two dimensions the reduced-gravity environment. A Kalman filter is used for the navigation. The Kalman filter estimates the relative orientation and position of the target spacecraft with respect to the chaser using measurements given by a custom-developed Vision Sensor System and a MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit. This paper presents an overall description of the test-bed and the navigation algorithms.