Abstract
Pose determination in close proximity is critical for space missions in which monocular vision is one of the most promising solutions. Although numerous approaches such as using artificial beacons or specific shapes on spacecrafts have proved to be effective, the high individuation and the large time delay limit their use in low impact docking. This paper proposes a unified framework to determinate the relative pose between two docking mechanisms by treating their guide petals as measurement objects. Fusing the pose information of one docking mechanism to simplify image processing and creating an intermediate coordinate system to solve the perspective-n-point problem greatly improve the real-time performance and the robustness of the method. Experimental results show that the position measurement error is within 3.7 mm, while the rotation error around docking direction is less than 0.16°, corresponding to a measurement time reduction of 85%.
Highlights
Low impact docking [1] is a subject of intense research in the context of current docking systems.It is widely used in on-orbit servicing (OOS) [2], comet and asteroid exploration [3,4], and active debris removal (ADR) [5]
Pose determination occurs over a distance of less than several meters, and its ultimate goal is to obtain the relative pose between the docking mechanisms of two spacecrafts with high speed, precision, and robustness
This paper discusses the influence of relative pose determination for low impact docking in close proximity and analyzes the advantages and the disadvantages of various methods
Summary
Low impact docking [1] is a subject of intense research in the context of current docking systems. EO sensor systems can be classified as passive systems, systems consisting of single (monocular) or multiple (stereo) cameras, and active light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems. Gao et al designed a monocular structured light vision system for large, non-cooperative satellites [20] This method is suitable only for satellites with rectangular features on their antennae, and, similar to the case of artificial beacons, the antenna needs to be accurately mounted in a specific location. Other improvements include the design of active light sources that minimize the sensitivity to the illumination in the space environment and the development of an effective and robust algorithm for multitarget tracking and pose determination.
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