Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Udomkesmalee, S..
A three-dimensional microelectronic device (3DANN-R) capable of performing general image convolution at the speed of 10***sup12*** operations/second (ops) in a volume of less than 1.5 cubic centimeter has been successfully built under the BMDO/JPL VIGILANTE program.
This paper describes the VIGIL system in detail. It discusses the overall approach for the first flight experiment, the results of the experiment and the follow-on experiments that demonstrate real-time target recognition and tracking.
The VIGILANTE project is a planned vision system capable of tracking and recognizing targets in real time, on a small airborne platform.
This paper describes the data handling system portion of VIGILANTE and presents methodologies used for rapid prototyping and repackaging in a miniaturized form.
VIGILANTE consists of two major components:1. the Viewing Imager/Gimballed Instrumentation Laboratory (VIGIL)- advanced infrared, visible, and ultraviolet sensors with appropriate optics and camera electronics & 2. the Analog Neural Three-dimensional processing Experiment (ANTE)-a massively parallel, neural network-based, high-speed processor.
New developments in image sensors and optical materials have opened the door to dramatic mass and power reductions in celestial tracker designs. The rapid development of active pixel sensors (APS) has provided a new detector choice offering high on-chip integration of support circuitry at reduced power consumption. Silicon-Carbide (Si-C) optics are one of the new developments in low-mass optical components. We describe the celestial tracker needs of an Autonomous Feature and Star Tracking (AFAST) system designed for autonomous spacecraft control. Details of a low mass celestial tracker, based on a low power APS array and optimized for an AFAST system, are discussed.
Autonomous Feature And Start Tracking (AFAST), essential technology for building autonomous
A particular aspect of autonomous target tracking for planetary bodies, detection of "distinct"
The paper summarizes efforts at JPL to develop an intelligent autonomous tracking and pointing system for space applications. A powerful 3D graphic software testbed has also been developed to simulate a likely scenario of autonomous tracking and pointing operations during a planetary flyby.
A novel image segmentation technique for extracting limb and terminator of planetary bodies is proposed. Conventional edge- based histogramming approaches are used to trace object boundaries. The limb and terminator bifurcation is achieved by locating the harmonized segment in the two equations representing the 2-D parameterized boundary curve. Real planetary images from Voyager 1 and 2 served as representative test cases to verify the proposed methodology.
The new NASA paradigm calls for more frequent, low-cost, small spacecraft missions capable of returning high-value planetary science. This challenge also extends to the rapid insertion of advanced technologies across all spacecraft subsystems as an enabling tool for building these highly capable miniaturized science platforms in the spirit of.
The design and development of a miniaturized optical processor that performs real time image correlation are described. The optical correlator utilizes the Vander Lugt matched spatial filter technique. The correlation output, a focused beam of light, is imaged onto a CMOS photodetector array. In addition to performing target recognition, the device also tracks the target. The hardware, composed of optical and electro-optical components, occupies only 590 cu cm of volume. A complete correlator system would also include an input imaging lens. This optical processing system is compact, rugged, requires only 3.5 watts of operating power, and weighs less than 3 kg. It represents a major achievement in miniaturizing optical processors. When considered as a special-purpose processing unit, it is an attractive alternative to conventional digital image recognition processing. It is conceivable that the combined technology of both optical and ditital processing could result in a very advanced robot vision system.