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Autonomous over-the-horizon navigation using LIDAR data

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Abstract

In this paper we present the approach for autonomous planetary exploration developed at the Canadian Space Agency. The goal of this work is to enable autonomous navigation to remote locations, well beyond the sensing horizon of the rover, with minimal interaction with a human operator. We employ LIDAR range sensors due to their accuracy, long range and robustness in the harsh lighting conditions of space. Irregular Triangular Meshes (ITMs) are used for representing the environment, providing an accurate, yet compact, spatial representation. In this paper a novel path-planning technique through the ITM is introduced, which guides the rover through flat terrain and safely away from obstacles. Experiments performed in CSA’s Mars emulation terrain, validating our approach, are also presented.

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Notes

  1. http://www.neptec.com; http://www.optech.ca/; http://sm.mdacorporation.com/.

  2. http://www.optech.ca/.

  3. http://www.sick.com.

  4. http://www.mobilerobots.com.

  5. http://www.xbow.com/.

  6. http://www.pnicorp.com/.

  7. When the local scan spans 360∘, as with the current sensor, only range is considered. When the scan has a limited field of view, see Rekleitis et al. (2007), then the global path has to be segmented against the field of view of the sensor.

  8. See http://www.mvps.org/directx/articles/catmull/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Ioannis Rekleitis

  2. Institut de recherche d’Hydro-Québec (IREQ), Varennes, QC, Canada

    Jean-Luc Bedwani

  3. Canadian Space Agency, Saint-Hubert, QC, Canada

    Erick Dupuis, Tom Lamarche & Pierre Allard

Authors
  1. Ioannis Rekleitis
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  2. Jean-Luc Bedwani
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  3. Erick Dupuis
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  4. Tom Lamarche
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  5. Pierre Allard
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Correspondence to Ioannis Rekleitis.

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Rekleitis, I., Bedwani, JL., Dupuis, E. et al. Autonomous over-the-horizon navigation using LIDAR data. Auton Robot 34, 1–18 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-012-9309-9

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