NON-CONTACTING RANGING SYSTEMS FOR COLLISION AVOIDANCE

FOR ROBOT APPLICATIONS, METHODS ARE PROPOSED FOR SENSING AND MEASURING THE RANGE AND BEARING OF OBSTACLES OR POTENTIAL OBSTACLES, USING ELECTRO-OPTICS TECHNIQUES. CONVENTIONAL ACOUSTIC OR RADAR RANGEFINDING WILL NOT SUFFICE FOR THIS PURPOSE, BUT THE USE OF STRUCTURED LIGHT AND/OR TRACKING OF THE CONJUGATE DISTANCE OF THE IMAGED SCENE IS SHOWN TO BE A FEASIBLE AND USEFUL APPROACH. THE PROPOSED MODULE WILL OUTPUT RANGE AND AZIMUTH OF THE NEAREST REFLECTIVE ELEMENT, AROUND THE HORIZON. THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES ARE: TO REFINE THE PROBLEM DESCRIPTION, IN THE CONTEXT OF PRACTICAL NEARTERM TECHNOLOGY; TO ANALYTICALLY AND EXPERIMENTALLY EVALUATE A HALFDOZEN DESCRIBED CANDIDATE SYSTEMS APPROACHES; AND TO DEVELOP A PROGRAM PLAN FOR HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTEGRATED MODULE DESIGN IN A PHASE II EFFORT.