Larry B. Petway

Lidar systems for precision navigation and safe landing on planetary bodies

The ability of lidar technology to provide three-dimensional elevation maps of the terrain, high precision distance to the ground, and approach velocity can enable safe landing of robotic and manned vehicles with a high degree of precision. Currently, NASAis developing novel lidar sensors aimed at the needs of future planetary landing missions.These lidar sensors are a 3-Dimensional Imaging Flash Lidar, a Doppler Lidar, and a Laser Altimeter. The Flash Lidar is capable of generating elevation maps of theterrain toindicate hazardous features such as rocks, craters, and steep slopes. The elevation maps, which arecollected during the approach phase of a landing vehicle from about 1 km above the ground, can be used to determine the most suitable safe landing site. The Doppler Lidar provides highly accurate ground relative velocity and distance data thusenablingprecision navigation to the landing site. Our Doppler lidar utilizes three laser beams that are pointed indifferent directions to measure line-of-sight velocities and ranges to the ground from altitudes of over 2 km.Starting at altitudes of about 20km and throughout the landing trajectory,the Laser Altimeter can provide very accurate ground relative altitude measurements that are used to improve the vehicle position knowledge obtained from the vehiclesnavigation system. Betweenaltitudesof approximately 15 km and 10 km, either the Laser Altimeter or the Flash Lidar can be used to generate contour maps of the terrain, identifying known surface features such as craters to perform Terrain relative Navigation thus further reducing the vehicles relative position error. This paper describes the operational capabilities of each lidar sensorand provides a status of their development.

Flight Test Performance of a High Precision Navigation Doppler Lidar

A navigation Doppler Lidar (DL) was developed at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for high precision velocity measurements from a lunar or planetary landing vehicle in support of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project. A unique feature of this DL is that it has the capability to provide a precision velocity vector which can be easily separated into horizontal and vertical velocity components and high accuracy line of sight (LOS) range measurements. This dual mode of operation can provide useful information, such as vehicle orientation relative to the direction of travel, and vehicle attitude relative to the sensor footprint on the ground. System performance was evaluated in a series of helicopter flight tests over the California desert. This paper provides a description of the DL system and presents results obtained from these flight tests.

Navigation Doppler lidar sensor for precision altitude and vector velocity measurements: flight test results

An all fiber Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) system is under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for precision descent and landing applications on planetary bodies. The sensor produces high-resolution line of sight range, altitude above ground, ground relative attitude, and high precision velocity vector measurements. Previous helicopter flight test results demonstrated the NDL measurement concepts, including measurement precision, accuracies, and operational range. This paper discusses the results obtained from a recent campaign to test the improved sensor hardware, and various signal processing algorithms applicable to real-time processing. The NDL was mounted in an instrumentation pod aboard an Erickson Air-Crane helicopter and flown over various terrains. The sensor was one of several sensors tested in this field test by NASAs Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project.

Doppler lidar sensor for precision navigation in GPS-deprived environment

Landing mission concepts that are being developed for exploration of solar system bodies are increasingly ambitious in their implementations and objectives. Most of these missions require accurate position and velocity data during their descent phase in order to ensure safe, soft landing at the pre-designated sites. Data from the vehicle’s Inertial Measurement Unit will not be sufficient due to significant drift error after extended travel time in space. Therefore, an onboard sensor is required to provide the necessary data for landing in the GPS-deprived environment of space. For this reason, NASA Langley Research Center has been developing an advanced Doppler lidar sensor capable of providing accurate and reliable data suitable for operation in the highly constrained environment of space. The Doppler lidar transmits three laser beams in different directions toward the ground. The signal from each beam provides the platform velocity and range to the ground along the laser line-of-sight (LOS). The six LOS measurements are then combined in order to determine the three components of the vehicle velocity vector, and to accurately measure altitude and attitude angles relative to the local ground. These measurements are used by an autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control system to accurately navigate the vehicle from a few kilometers above the ground to the designated location and to execute a gentle touchdown. A prototype version of our lidar sensor has been completed for a closed-loop demonstration onboard a rocket-powered terrestrial free-flyer vehicle.

Linear FMCW Laser Radar for Precision Range and Vector Velocity Measurements

An all fiber linear frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) coherent laser radar system is under development with a goal to aide NASA s new Space Exploration initiative for manned and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars. By employing a combination of optical heterodyne and linear frequency modulation techniques and utilizing state-of-the-art fiber optic technologies, highly efficient, compact and reliable laser radar suitable for operation in a space environment is being developed. Linear FMCW lidar has the capability of high-resolution range measurements, and when configured into a multi-channel receiver system it has the capability of obtaining high precision horizontal and vertical velocity measurements. Precision range and vector velocity data are beneficial to navigating planetary landing pods to the preselected site and achieving autonomous, safe soft-landing. The all-fiber coherent laser radar has several important advantages over more conventional pulsed laser altimeters or range finders. One of the advantages of the coherent laser radar is its ability to measure directly the platform velocity by extracting the Doppler shift generated from the motion, as opposed to time of flight range finders where terrain features such as hills, cliffs, or slopes add error to the velocity measurement. Doppler measurements are about two orders of magnitude more accurate than the velocity estimates obtained by pulsed laser altimeters. In addition, most of the components of the device are efficient and reliable commercial off-the-shelf fiber optic telecommunication components. This paper discusses the design and performance of a second-generation brassboard system under development at NASA Langley Research Center as part of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project.

Lidar Sensors for Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance

Lidar technology will play an important role in enabling highly ambitious missions being envisioned for exploration of solar system bodies. Currently, NASA is developing a set of advanced lidar sensors, under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project, aimed at safe landing of robotic and manned vehicles at designated sites with a high degree of precision. These lidar sensors are an Imaging Flash Lidar capable of generating high resolution three-dimensional elevation maps of the terrain, a Doppler Lidar for providing precision vehicle velocity and altitude, and a Laser Altimeter for measuring distance to the ground and ground contours from high altitudes. The capabilities of these lidar sensors have been demonstrated through four helicopter and one fixed-wing aircraft flight test campaigns conducted from 2008 through 2012 during different phases of their development. Recently, prototype versions of these landing lidars have been completed for integration into a rocket-powered terrestrial free-flyer vehicle (Morpheus) being built by NASA Johnson Space Center. Operating in closed-loop with other ALHAT avionics, the viability of the lidars for future landing missions will be demonstrated. This paper describes the ALHAT lidar sensors and assesses their capabilities and impacts on future landing missions.

Utilization of 3-D Imaging Flash Lidar Technology for Autonomous Safe Landing on Planetary Bodies

NASA considers Flash Lidar a critical technology for enabling autonomous safe landing of future large robotic and crewed vehicles on the surface of the Moon and Mars. Flash Lidar can generate 3-Dimensional images of the terrain to identify hazardous features such as craters, rocks, and steep slopes during the final stages of descent and landing. The onboard flight comptuer can use the 3-D map of terain to guide the vehicle to a safe site. The capabilities of Flash Lidar technology were evaluated through a series of static tests using a calibrated target and through dynamic tests aboard a helicopter and a fixed wing airctarft. The aircraft flight tests were perfomed over Moonlike terrain in the California and Nevada deserts. This paper briefly describes the Flash Lidar static and aircraft flight test results. These test results are analyzed against the landing application requirements to identify the areas of technology improvement. The ongoing technology advancement activities are then explained and their goals are described.

Field Demonstration of a Precision Navigation Lidar System for Space Vehicles

An all fiber Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) system was developed at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to enable precision descent and landing on planetary bodies. The sensor can provide realtime high-resolution range, altitude, ground relative attitude, and high precision velocity vectors to a navigation system. This paper gives a description of the sensor development and its data products, and summarizes the results obtained by the sensor during field tests conducted in December 2012 at NASA Kennedy Space Center.

Doppler lidar sensor for precision landing on the Moon and Mars

Landing mission concepts that are being developed for exploration of planetary bodies are increasingly ambitious in their implementations and objectives. Most of these missions require accurate position and velocity data during their descent phase in order to ensure safe soft landing at the pre-designated sites. To address this need, a Doppler lidar is being developed by NASA under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project. This lidar sensor is a versatile instrument capable of providing precision velocity vectors, vehicle ground relative altitude, and attitude. The capabilities of this advanced technology have been demonstrated through two helicopter flight test campaigns conducted over a vegetation-free terrain in 2008 and 2010. Presently, a prototype version of this sensor is being assembled for integration into a rocket-powered terrestrial free-flyer vehicle. Operating in a closed loop with the vehicles guidance and navigation system, the viability of this advanced sensor for future landing missions will be demonstrated through a series of flight tests in 2012.

High-energy, efficient, 30-Hz ultraviolet laser sources for airborne ozone-lidar systems

Two compact, high-pulse-energy, injection-seeded, 30-Hz frequency-doubled Nd:YAG-laser-pumped Ti: sapphire lasers were developed and operated at infrared wavelengths of 867 and 900 nm. Beams with laser pulse energy >30 mJ at ultraviolet wavelengths of 289 and 300 nm were generated through a tripling of the frequencies of these Ti:sapphire lasers. This work is directed at the replacement of dye lasers for use in an airborne ozone differential absorption lidar system. The ultraviolet pulse energy at 289 and 300 nm had 27% and 31% absolute optical energy conversion efficiencies from input pulse energies at 867 and 900 nm, respectively.