DocumentCode :
3447440
Title :
Mars microrover navigation: performance evaluation and enhancement
Author :
Matthies, Larry ; Gat, Erann ; Harrison, Reid ; Wilcox, Brian ; Volpe, Richard ; Litwin, Todd
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Volume :
1
fYear :
1995
fDate :
5-9 Aug 1995
Firstpage :
433
Abstract :
In 1996, NASA will launch the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which will carry an 11 kg rover to explore the immediate vicinity of the lander. To assess the capabilities of the rover, the authors have constructed a new microrover testbed consisting of the Rocky 3.2 vehicle and an indoor test arena containing Mars analog terrain and overhead cameras for automatic, real-time tracking of the true rover position and heading. In this paper, the authors present initial performance evaluation results obtained with this testbed. The authors first decompose rover navigation into four major functions: goal designation, rover localization, hazard detection, and path selection. The authors then describe the Mars Pathfinder approach to each function, present results to date of evaluating the performance of each function, and outline their approach to enhancing performance for future missions. The results show key limitations in the quality of rover localization, the speed of hazard detection, and the ability of behavior control algorithms for path selection to negotiate the rock frequencies likely to be encountered on Mars
Keywords :
Mars; computerised navigation; mobile robots; path planning; robot vision; Mars Pathfinder spacecraft; Mars microrover navigation; Rocky 3.2 vehicle; automatic real-time tracking; behavior control algorithms; goal designation; hazard detection; indoor test arena; microrover testbed; path selection; performance enhancement; performance evaluation; rock frequencies; rover localization; Aircraft navigation; Automatic testing; Cameras; Frequency; Hazards; Laboratories; Mars; Propulsion; Space technology; Space vehicles;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Intelligent Robots and Systems 95. 'Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots', Proceedings. 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Pittsburgh, PA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-7108-4
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/IROS.1995.525832
Filename :
525832
Link To Document :
بازگشت