Ultra-Compact Standalone Visual Relative Navigation

Astrobotic proposes the development and prototyping of UltraNav, a low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) visual relative navigation system capable of implementing modern vision-based navigation and modeling methods including Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO), and Structure-from-Motion (SfM). The UltraNav system components will provide a compact form factor that fits within approximately 1.5U (10 x 10 x 15 cm), weighs less than 2 kg, and requires less than 5 W to power, enabling its use in power-, mass-, and volume-constrained applications, such as CubeSats and SmallSats. The UltraNav system interfacing will be designed to enable flexibility of use as either a part of a larger navigation solution or as a standalone sensor on a small exploration spacecraft. A efficient radiation-tolerantnbsp;System-on-Chip (SoC) will be integrated into a larger system that includes a camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU). This system will be used to test a version of the Astrobotic Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) algorithm that is modified to utilize UltraNav#39;snbsp;processing capabilities and balance performance with the computational limits of the low SWaP system.Vision techniques are viable in many missions and across a variety of domains, in applications such as Entry, Decent, and Landing (EDL); Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (ARamp;D); and deep-space navigation. Phase II work will culminate with a low-cost, small form factor, stand-alone visual navigation platform, with a cost that is affordable to commercial and small-budget missions and the flexibility to be added to large-scale missions as a piece of a larger navigation system. The final product will have space applications ranging from CubeSats to ARamp;D and EDL assistance on large-scale human missions.