Attitude disturbance correction for binocular vision cameras in rendezvous and docking

In this paper, a camera attitude disturbances correction method for binocular vision is proposed that uses a compact and easily designed auxiliary optical path. The light from a reference marker fixed inside of the spacecraft enters each camera´s field of view through the auxiliary optical path and then is imaged on the CCD sensor, providing virtual and infinite reference points for each camera. The image position of the reference marker varies with the attitude change of the camera, and the attitude transformation matrix can be computed through the image change of the reference marker. Therefore, if camera attitude disturbances occur, the matrix can be used to compensate for camera attitude disturbances. The experimental results show that the auxiliary optical path design is feasible and the light from the reference marker can be reflected into the view of each camera. The proposed camera attitude disturbances correction method can be used to eliminate camera attitude disturbances for improving 3D measurement accuracy. However, it is certain that the complexity of the system is increased compared with systems without an auxiliary optical path, and complexity is a compromise with accuracy. Besides, camera attitude disturbances for binocular vision in RVD are complex and affected by many factors. We only dealt with the problem from a geometric view and still have much work to do. For example, the auxiliary optical path will introduce more error sources that need further study. In addition, the effects of camera attitude disturbances on image quality are neglected, while image quality will influence 3D measurement accuracy.