Engineering topics
Biesiadecki, Jeffrey J.
Publications and source records attributed to Biesiadecki, Jeffrey J..
Enhanced Reporting of Mars Exploration Rover Telemetry
Mars Exploration Rover Enhanced Telemetry Extraction and Reporting System (METERS) is software that generates a human-readable representation of the state of the mobility and arm-related systems of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) vehicles on each Martian solar day (sol). Data are received from the MER spacecraft in multiple streams having various formats including text messages, sparsely-sampled engineering quantities, images, and individual motor-command histories.
Visual Target Tracking on the Mars Exploration Rovers
Visual Target Tracking (VTT) has been implemented in the new Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Flight Software (FSW) R9.2 release, which is now running on both Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Applying the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) algorithm with template image magnification and roll compensation on MER Navcam images, VTT tracks the target and enables the rover to approach the target within a few cm over a 10 m traverse. Each VTT update takes 1/2 to 1 minute on the rovers, 2-3 times faster than one Visual Odometry (Visodom) update. VTT is a key element to achieve a target approach and instrument placement over a 10-m run in a single sol in contrast to the original baseline of 3 sols. VTT has been integrated into the MER FSW so that it can operate with any combination of blind driving, Autonomous Navigation (Autonav) with hazard avoidance, and Visodom. VTT can either guide the rover towards the target or simply image the target as the rover drives by. Three recent VTT operational checkouts on Opportunity were all successful, tracking the selected target reliably within a few pixels.
The Mars Exploration Rover Surface Mobility Flight Software: Driving Ambition
In this paper we describe the software that has driven these rovers more than a combined 11,000 meters over the Martian surface, including its design and implementation, and summarize current mobility performance results from Mars.
Attitude and position estimation on the Mars Exploration Rovers
This paper describes the techniques used by the rovers to acquire and maintain attitude and position knowledge, the accuracy which is obtainable, and lessons learned after more than one year in operation.
Attitude and position estimation on the Mars Exploration Rovers
NASA/JPL 's Mars Exploration Rovers acquire their attitude upon command and autonomously propagate their attitude and position. The rovers use accelerometers and images of the sun to acquire attitude, autonomously searching the sky for the sun with a pointable camera. To propagate the attitude and position the rovers use either accelerometer and gyro readings or gyro readings and wheel odometiy, depending on the nature of the movement ground operators are commanding. Where necessary, visual odometry is performed on images to fine tune the position updates, particularly in high slip environments. The capability also exists for visual odometry attitude updates. This paper describes the techniques used by the rovers to acquire and maintain attitude and position knowledge, the accuracy which is obtainable, and lessons learned after more than one year in operation.
Mars Exploration Rover surface operations: driving opportunity at Meridiani Planum
This paper will detail the experience of driving Opportunity through this alien landscape from the point of view of the Rover Planners, the people who tell the rover where to drive and how to use its robotic arm.
Tradeoffs between directed and autonomous driving on the Mars Exploration Rover
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) have collected a great geological diversity of science results, thanks in large part to their surface mobility capabilities.
Advanced Simulation Environment for Autonomous Spacecraft
NASA is developing technology to increase spacecraft on-board autonomy, in an effort to reduce overall mission cost and mission operations resources. Achievement of this objective requires the development of a new class of ground-based autonomy testbeds that can enable rapid development, test, and integration of the new autonomous spacecraft flight software.