LandingNav is an innovative precision landing navigation technology designed to provide real-time ground measurements for spacecraft and aircraft. The fully autonomous onboard system measures the distance between the spacecraft and ground with a high degree of accuracy. LandingNav maps landing zones, automatically identifies and avoids hazards and guides vehicles to a safe landing throughout terminal descent.

Integration of state-of-the-art feature detection & tracking, hazard evaluation and real-time motion stereo & correlation technologies offer superior real-time landmark recognition and navigation capabilities. LandingNav improves accuracy, broadens field of use & operational capabilities and enhances cost & operational efficiencies.

LandNav employs and innovative multi-camera configuration and image processing deliver accurate 5Hz terrain measurements. High resolution images are captured and analyzed to calculate the distance from the spacecraft and millions of points on the ground in real-time. Proprietary algorithms perform simultaneous processing of images and high speed stereo correlation.

Topographic contour maps are automatically and efficiently generated, using global-local orthogonal polynomial mapping [GLO-Map] techniques and methods. Use of a multiple field of view motion stereo system and the refinement of terrain global maps in real-time provides higher resolution and accurate computation of elevation and slope values.

LandingNav’s multi-resolution structure and proprietary learning algorithms reduce local and global computational complexities. A functional representation approach to terrain modeling is exceptionally memory efficient, reduces processing time and effectively mitigates the impact of uncertain and missing terrain data.

Photorealistic images deliver texture information for use with 3D visualization, where information is shared with humans. Highly accurate 3D maps of aircraft or spacecraft landing zones are generated for hazard avoidance during autonomous landing operations for manned and unmanned aircraft and spacecraft.

Designed for a broad range of applications and may be used for high-altitude and terminal navigation.

FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
The addition of laser projection, an inertial measurement unit [IMU] and enhanced algorithms for hazard detection and avoidance offer hazard detection for low-light conditions in our next release.