DEAD RECKONING OPTOELECTRONIC INTELLIGENT DOCKING SYSTEM (DROID)

THIS PROJECT IS DESIGNED TO STUDY A NEW CONCEPT FOR THE AUTOMATION OF STS OPERATIONS EMPLOYING A SYNERGISTIC COMBINATION OF EXISTING OPTOELECTRONIC SUBSYSTEMS INTEGRATED BY MICROPROCESSOR INTELLIGENCE. THE DROID IS A ROBOT PILOT WHICH UTILIZES A LASER RANGEFINDER, A LASER INTERFEROMETER, A LASER DIODE ARRAY, A QUADRANT RECEIVER AND AN OPTICAL CONTRAST VIDEO TRACKER TO PRODUCE PRECISE INFORMATION ON TARGET POSITION, CLOSING VELOCITY AND SPACECRAFT GUIDANCE COMMANDS. A COMMAND AND CONTROL UNIT MANIPULATES THE OPTOELECTRONIC SUBSYSTEMS AND MANEUVERS THE SPACECRAFT THROUGH TARGET ACQUISITION, TERMINAL RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING WITH EITHER COOPERATIVE OR UNCOOPERATIVE TARGETS. THE SYSTEM ALSO PROVIDES A FULL DUPLEX, LASER TELEMETRY LINK FOR COMMUNICATION WITH COOPERATIVE SPACECRAFT. THE PRIMARY EFFORT IS TO DESIGN THE DROID SYSTEM TO MEET NASA OBJECTIVES AND TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH IN LIGHT OF PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW CAPABILITY IN AUTOMATED DOCKING AT A SUBSTANTIAL SAVINGS IN R&D EXPENSE, SINCE THE CONCEPT RELIES ON WELL PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE APPROACH IS FEASIBLE AND THAT A DESIGN WILL BE GENERATED THAT WILL ALLOW ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II.