INTRODUCTION

Now days there are several navigation systems for positioning the objects. Several research efforts have been carried out in the field of Six Degrees Of Freedom estimation for rendezvous and proximity operations. One such navigation system used in the field of Six Degrees Of Freedom position and attitude estimation is the !Sion based N" igation system. !t is aimed at achieving better accuracies in Six Degrees Of Freedom estimation using a more simpler and robust approach. #he !SN" system uses a $osition Sensitive Diode %$SD&

sensor for ' DOF estimation. Output current from the $SD sensor determines the azimuth and elevation of the light source with respect to the sensor. (y having four or more light source called beacons in the target frame at )nown positions the six degree of freedom data associated with the sensor is calculated. #he beacon channel separation and demodulation are done on a fixed point digital signal processor %DS$& #exas !nstruments #*S+,-.//x 0,1 using digital down conversion2 synchronous detection and multirate signal processing techni3ues. #he demodulated sensor currents due to each beacon are communicated to a floating point DS$ #exas !nstruments #*S+,- .++ 0,1 for subse3uent navigation solution by the use of colinearity e3uations.

"mong other competitive systems 0+1 a differential global positioning system %4$S& is limited to midrange accuracies2 lower bandwidth2 and re3uires complex infrastructures. #he sensor systems based on differential 4$S are also limited by geometric dilution of precision2 multipath errors2 receiver errors2 etc.#hese limitations can be overcome by using the DS$ embedded !SN" system

SENSOR DESCRIPTION

Sensor geometry 5e have discussed that $osition Sensitive Diodes are used for sensing purpose. #he $osition Sensitive Diode %$SD& is a single substrate photodiode capable of finding or locating a light beam within defined sensing area. 5hen photons meet the $SD sensor active area electrical currents are generated that flow through its four terminals. #he closer the incident light centroid is to a particular terminal2 the larger the position of current that flows through that load comparison of these four currents determines the centroid location of the incident light 5ith regards to the above figure the normalized voltage are as follows y6) %!right7!left& 8 %!right9!left& 8%:& z6) %!up7!down& 8 %!up9!down& 8%,&

5here ; is a constant value : ohm. #his e3uation %:& is an indication of the angle the incident light beam ma)es about the object space < axis. Similarly e3uation %,& is determined by the angle that the incident light beam ma)es about the object space = axis

FACTORS AFECTING MEASUREMENT

#here is li)ely to be a large amount of ambient light at short wavelength and low carrier fre3uencies due to perhaps the sun2 its reflections2 incandescent or discharge tube lights2 >.D and cathode ray tube displays etc. !n many cases this ambient energy would swap a relatively small beacon signal and the $SD centroid data would mostly correspond to this unwanted bac)ground light. !n order to avoid this problem by modulating the beacon controller current by a sinusoidal carrier of high fre3uency. #he resulting $SD signal currents then vary sinsuoidally at approximately the same fre3uency and have to be demodulated to recover the actual current proportional to the beacon light centroid. #his modulation or demodulation scheme leads high degree of insensitivity to variations in ambient light and it is a )ey to ma)e the $SD sensing approach practical. "nother method for solving this ambient light problem is that all energy except that centered on the colour wavelength of the beacon is greatly reduced by an optical colour filter. "nother problem that affects the measurement is that high power beacon signal may saturate output of the preamplifier which is used after the $SD. So incident light centroid can not measure accurately. !n order to avoid this problem a feedbac) control is used to hold the beacon light intensity at a level that results in a maximum $SD current at approximately ?-@ of the #ran impedance amplifier input saturation level.

SIGNAL PROCESSING

Block d !gr!m o" DSP em#edded $ISNA$ system #his the general bloc) diagram of !SN" system. "

sinusoidal carrier of approximately A- )Bz fre3uency is applied to modulate each beacon >CD drive current. the resulting induced $SD signal current then vary sinusoidally at approximately same fre3uency and are demodulated to recover the currents that are proportional to the beacon light centroid. #he output of $SD is very wea). So we have to amplify these signals by using a preamplifier. "fter amplification this signal is fed to four channel analog to digital converter. #his converts the four channels of analog data into digital form. "nd is then fed to the DS$2 #*S+,-.//x 0,1 to demodulate the signal. "fter the demodulation the

four channel data is fed to the Six Degree Of Freedom estimator2 which uses DS$ for estimation. From this point we get the sensor co7ordinates. "s discussed earlier that the controlling of beacons to avoid the problem of saturation we uses the beacon control data which is given by the DS$2 #*S+,- .++ 0,1. #his control data is in digital form. 5e use radio lin) to communicate the control data from the sensor electronics module to the beacon controller module. #he beacon control data is then Fre3uency Shift ;ey %FS;& modulated. #hen it is transmitted by using a wireless transmitter. #he wireless receiver receives the control data and the beacon controller controls the amplitude or power level of beacons. #his closed loop system estimates the Six Degree Of Freedom of the sensor.

MODULATION AND FRE%UENC& DI$ISION MULTIPLE'ING

#he $SDs are relatively fast compared to even high sped cameras2 having rise time of about /s. this permits light sources to be structured in the fre3uency domain and utilization of radar7li)e signal processing methods to discriminate target energy in the presence of highly cluttered ambient optical scenes. !f there is a single beacon excited by a sinusoidal oscillator operating at a fre3uency fc2 the emitted light induces sinusoidal currents in the $SD with the fre3uency fc at the four terminals of the $SD sensor. #herefore2 all the four currents can be processed in a similar fashion to estimate the amplitudes of the carrier waveforms. #he amplitudes of these currents are related to the azimuth and elevation of the light source with respect to the image co7ordinate frame. !f the $SD has a relative motion with respect to the beacon2 the current envelopes are modulated by that relative motion and this modulation is analogous to amplitude modulation %"*&. #hus the currents can be written as follows2 !)%t& 6 %")..os%, .pi .fc .t&.%:9m)%t&&&9n) %+&

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

where ) 6 :2,2+2 and A and it corresponds to the terminal number of the $SD2 and ") is the amplitude of the current waveform generated at the )th terminal of the $SD by the beacon that is fixed with respect to the $SD sensor. #he function m )%t& denotes the signal envelope variation induced by the relative movement of the sensor. #his is the case of single beacon operated at single fre3uency.

!f there are multiple

beacons operating at different

fre3uencies2 then the $SD terminal currents consists of current components at those fre3uencies2 and can be written as follows2

5here N is the number of beacons and it should be greater than four for solving the ' DOF inverse problem2 " j2) is the pea) amplitude of the current generator at the ) th terminal of the $SD corresponding to a light beam from j th beacon driven by a sinusoidal oscillator of fre3uency fj while the beacon is fixed with respect to the $SD sensor2 mj2)%t& is the signal due to the relative movement of the sensor with respect to the jth beacon2 and n j2) is the noise component due to the jth beacon at the )th terminal. !t is re3uired to demodulate the above composite currents in real time for NEA channels. #he components to be recovered can thus be modeled as rj2)%t&6"j2)%:9mj2)%t&&2j6:2,2+2.........2NF )6:2,2.......2A DDD%/& !t is worth pointing out that in normalized voltages2 which are proportional to azimuth and elevation of the jth beacon with respect to the image co7ordinate frame2 are obtained from the following relation similar to e3uation%:&. 6 ) %%rj2:7rj2,& 8 %rj2:9rj2,&&DDDDDDDDD%'&

yj

z2j 6 ) %%rj2+7rj2A& 8 %rj2+9rj2A&&DDDDDDDDD%?&

#he selection of fre3uencies for the beacons is based on several factors. #he beacon fre3uency should ideally be above ,- )Bz in order to distinguish it from lower fre3uency bac)ground ambient light that might include extraneous lighting sources. !f the beacon fre3uency is too high2 the $SD8pre amplifier noise will be greater. For practical purposes2 the beacon fre3uency is selected to be near A-)Bz. #he separation between the beacon fre3uencies depends on the bandwidth of the beacon signal.

DEMODULATION
.onsidering that it is needed to determine the amplitude of the sinusoidal signal and the associated signal due to the relative movement of the sensor2 an approach similar to "* demodulation is used here. #he main difference2 however2 is that we are also interested in the carrier amplitude. "lthough analog circuits can be used to perform the channel separation and demodulation2 the DS$ based approach provides a more cost effective solution with a higher degree of reliability2 programmability and scalability. !n the foregoing discussion2 it is shown that for real implementation on a DS$ processor2 straight envelope detection is not feasible and the use of multirate signal processing can overcome this limitation. #he $SD sensor generates four currents and a four channel synchronous analog to digital converter %"D.& samples these four currents. Cach current contains the fre3uency components from around AG.,/ to /,.,/ )Bz. #he sampling fre3uency of "D. is chosen as to be ,:- )Bz2 which is four times the anticipated maximum fre3uency component of nearest or /,./ )Bz. Four pre amplifiers with unity gain in the range of AG.,/ )Bz to /,.,/ )Bz together with a gradual attenuation at other fre3uencies are used to supply the currents to the "D.. #his attenuation reaches G-d( at higher fre3uencies around :-/ )Bz and also at lower fre3uencies near - Bz. #he word length is chosen to be :, bits.

Since all the four $SD currents are similar in terms of fre3uency components2 the beacon channel separation and demodulation methods are common to all of them. (andpass filtering for the selection of the beacon channel and then envelope detection consisting of rectification and lowpass filtering are performed. Since the beacon carrier fre3uencies are separated by /-- Bz2 the bandpass filter is designed to have a unity gain passband from f j7:-- to fj9:-- Bz2 a transition bandwidth of :/- Bz from fj7,/- to fj7:-- and from fj9:-- to fj9,/-. #he stopband attenuation is around G-d(. #he demodulation can be done by implementing algorithms on DS$.

DSP IMPLIMENTATION
#he beacons are multiplexed in FD* mode. " low power fixed point DS$2 #*S+,-.//x 0,1 is utilized for the algorithm of beacon separation and demodulation. "synchronous analog to digital converter samples the sensorHs four currents to feed estimates to the #*S+,-.//x 0,1. Cach current has fre3uency components corresponding to the fre3uencies of different beacons. For the case of eight beacons the carrier fre3uencies are starting from AG./ )Bz with an interchannel separation of -./ )Bz2 in order to distinguish from low fre3uency bac)ground noise. #*S+,-.//x communicates the demodulated beacon currents to the #*S+,- .++ for subse3uent navigation solution. #he #*S+,- .++ 0,1 estimates the Six Degree Of Freedom position and attitude according to the beacon currents. #he algorithm for the Six Degree Of Freedom estimation is implemented on this processor. !t also provides feedbac) control signals to the beacon controller.

AD$ANTAGES !t can be easily reprogrammed !nsensitive to temperature variations and ageing effects !t is easily scaled up to :' beacons with slight modifications in
the software.

!t has small size. !t has wide sensor field of view. !t has no time consuming image processing employed. DISAD$ANTAGES #he signals may be bloc)ed by opa3ue objects in their paths.

APPLICATIONS
!SN" them are as follows :. "erial refueling ,. Spacecraft doc)ing system has a wide range of applications. #wo of

AERIAL REFUELING
#he aim this application is to extend the operational envelop of unmanned aerial vehicles by designing an autonomous in flight refueling system. One of the most difficult technical problems in autonomous flight refueling is the accuracy. #hat is it needs high accurate sensor to measure the location of the tan)er and the aircraft. .urrently 4lobal $ositioning System %4$S& is limited by an accuracy of one foot approximately. #he !SN" system is capable of providing the needed Six

Degree Of Freedom information for real time navigation and can enable accurate autonomous aerial refueling without extensive alterations in the current refueling system. !n order to implement !SN" system the only thing that is

to attach the light sources called beacons on the refueling target frame I"H and an optical sensor called $osition Sensitive Diode %$SD& on the aircraft frame I(H. #he aerial refueling using !SN" can be used in the :--@ of cloud cover2 total dar)ness and adverse weather conditions.

SPACECRAFT DOC(ING

S)!cecr!"t dock ng #his is one of the applications of !SN" system. !n the

figure doc)ing point of two spacecraft is shown. #he active beacons are placed in one of the doc)ing surface. #he beacon controller part is also placed in the same surface. Some beacons are placed near the doc)ing point and some are placed wide apart. #his is to provide a wide range of field of view. #he sensor part consists of a $SD sensor which is placed on the other aircraft near the doc)ing point. " beam of light is transmitted from the doc)ing point of the other spacecraft. #he sensor senses this light from the spacecraft and is then converted into four currents2 whose imbalance is used to find out the centroid of the light. #he centroid will give the Six Degree Of Freedom of the spacecraft.

CONCLUSION
" new method for operating beacons and demodulating the beacon currents for the !SN" sensor system is introduced here. !t is shown that target differentiation based on FD* yields higher signal to noise ratios for the sensor measurements and the demodulation in the digital domain using multirate signal processing techni3ues brings reliability and flexibility to the sensor system. #he algorithm that is implemented on DS$ is robust when there are four or more of line of sight measurements except near certain geometric conditions that are rarely encountered. !t is shown that this algorithm is computationally efficient and achieves better results.

BIBLIOGRAP*&

:. ;iran ;. 4unnam2 Declan ..Bughes2 John > Jun)ins2 and Nasser ;ehtamavaz2 A Vision Based DSP Embedded Navigation Sensor.!CCC Sensors journal2 ol ,2 NOK /2October ,--, ,. httpK88dspvillage.ti.com +. www.gpsworld.com A. #hyagarajan2 LClectronic navigation systemsM /. httpK88jungfrau.tamu.edu8Nhtml8visionlab

CONTENTS
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ABSTRACT
Spacecraft missions such a spacecraft doc)ing and formation flying re3uires high7precision relative position and attitude data. "lthough a global positioning system %4$S& can provide this capability near the earth2 deep space missions re3uire the use of alternative technologies. One such technology is the vision7based navigation % !SN" & sensor system developed at #exas "R* university .J comprises an electro optical sensor combined with light sources or beacons. #his patented sensor has an analog detector in the focal plane with a rise time of a few microseconds. "ccuracies better than one part in ,--- of the field of view have been obtained .this paper presents a new approach involving simultaneous activation of beacons with fre3uency division multiplexing as part of the !SN" sensor system.

AC(NO+LEDGEMENT