Unmanned Systems Technology 013 | AutonomouStuff Lincoln MKZ | AI systems | Unmanned Underwater Vehicles | Cosworth AG2 UAV twin | AceCore Neo | Maintenance | IDEX 2017 Show report

US space agency NASA is testing a combination of a high-resolution image sensor and processing system that will allow autonomous operation of craft in space (writes Nick Flaherty). The Raven system arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in March, and will be used to test visible, infrared and Lidar laser sensors and machine vision algorithms that will be used for autonomous operation in orbit and on the NASA Mars mission in 2020. With spacecraft travelling at up to 16,000 mph, often in darkness and with a delay in comms from Earth, an accurate autonomous docking system is key to refuelling all kinds of space system. Using machine vision algorithms to locate the docking areas of the craft being serviced, Raven will test the commands to match speeds and dock. Raven has been attached to the outside of the ISS and linked to a high-performance processing system called SpaceCube2.0 to monitor those spacecraft and provide the autonomous operation. Its camera and Lidar feed data to a processor running a special pose algorithm to gauge the relative distance between Raven and the spacecraft it is tracking. Then, based on those calculations, SpaceCube2.0 autonomously sends commands that swivel the Raven module on its gimbal to keep the sensors trained on the vehicle, while continuing to track it. “Tracking spacecraft with this system is only possible because we have SpaceCube,” said lead engineer David Petrick. “This type of operation requires fast computing.” To achieve that, SpaceCube2.0 uses the Virtex 5 FPGA from Xilinx to provide ten to 100 times the performance of existing space processors but consuming less power. The hybrid data processing platform combines four PowerPC processors and four Xilinx MicroBlaze processors, with digital signal processor and logic in the FPGA array to implement the pose algorithms The system – both software and FPGA logic – can be fully reconfigured in flight, either through commands from the ground or autonomously in response to detected events or instructions in the instrument data stream. ISS tests docking system Space systems