Active sensor system for automatic rendezvous and docking

Richard T. Howard; Thomas C. Bryan; Michael L. Book; John Larkin Jackson

doi:10.1117/12.281001

6 August 1997 Active sensor system for automatic rendezvous and docking

Richard T. Howard, Thomas C. Bryan, Michael L. Book, John Larkin Jackson

Proceedings Volume 3065, Laser Radar Technology and Applications II; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.281001
Event: AeroSense '97, 1997, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has developed an active sensor system, the ideo guidance sensor (VGS), to provide near-range relative position and attitude data. The VGS will be part of an automatic rendezvous and docking system. The VGS determines the relative positions and attitudes between the active sensor and the passive target. It works by using laser diodes to illuminate the retro-reflectors in the target, a solid-state camera to detect the return from the target retro-reflectors, and a frame grabber and digital signal processor to convert the video information into relative positions and attitudes. The current sensor design is the result of several years of development and testing, and it is being built to fly as an experiment payload on the space shuttle. The VGS system is designed to operate with the target completely visible within a relative azimuth of +/- 10.5 degrees and a relative elevation of +/- 8 degrees. The system will acquire and track and target within that field-of-view anywhere from 1.0 meters to 110 meters range at any relative roll angle and relative pitch and yaw attitudes of up to +/- 10 degrees. The data is output from the sensor at 5 Hz, and the target and sensor software have been designed to permit two independent sensors to operate simultaneously for redundancy.

Citation Download Citation

Richard T. Howard, Thomas C. Bryan, Michael L. Book, and John Larkin Jackson "Active sensor system for automatic rendezvous and docking", Proc. SPIE 3065, Laser Radar Technology and Applications II, (6 August 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.281001

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available