VisNav is a visual navigation system developed for aerospace vehicles. The system’s patented sensor technology continuously measures and reports a highly accurate relative position and orientation between two objects to support precision flight formation, autonomous docking and collaborative robotic operations.
Compact form factor is ideal for applications with limited volume, mass and power. VisNav improves accuracy, broadens operational capabilities and fields of use and enhances cost and operational efficiencies.
A combination of relative navigation sensory and Intelligent Supervisory Control (ISC), VisNav delivers update rates of 100Hz and 6 degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) proximity navigation with no data drop out. Relative position and orientation measurements are accurate to within a tolerance of less than a centimeter and a fraction of a degree. No inertia measurement unit (IMU) or pattern recognition is required.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) emit structured light modulated with a known waveform similar to radar. Received energy is filtered by an optical sensor, making discrimination and target identification near-trivial even in noisy ambient environments.
The ISC is an intelligent agent that supports supervision and guidance of unmanned vehicle operations. An intelligent, rules based architecture, ISC governs vehicle operation using relative navigation and global positioning data to map optimal paths and generate high level commands to transition vehicle systems from pre-defined modes and states.
VisNav is designed to support autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) for fixed-wing and organic aerial vehicles (OAV) and guidance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to recovery platforms. The system provides real-time trajectory planning, positioning for terminal guidance in dynamic launch, docking & landing environments and synchronized movement of manned vehicles and UAVs.
VisNav is easily adapted to fit most small UAVs. The system extends UAV endurance and significantly improves battlefield persistence. In June 2006, StarVision signed a long-term teaming agreement with Cobham PLC for the development and marketing of VisNav technologies. For the full press release, click here.
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