Relative Attitude And Position Estimation Program

In a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) agreement with Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Integrated Systems, Inc. (ISI), has developed a unique Kalman filter that enhances the ability to perform the proximity sensing phase of the Automated Rendezvous and Capture (AR&C) mission. This technology enables a robot supply vehicle to automatically dock with and service Earth-orbiting satellites or the International Space Station.

Having carried out their original responsibilities, Integrated Sensors used the sensing/tracking technological advances as the basis of a commercial object position and attitude determination system that simultaneously tracks an object's linear and angular movement in all six degrees of freedom. ISI further extended the technology to develop the ImageExpress™ workstation, ultimately forming a separate company, Sensory Applications, Inc. (SAI), to specifically market the system and related technologies. ImageExpress provides a simple-to-use digital mainframe motion analysis workstation for streamlining design and production processes.

Governmental and scientific applications include automatic collision avoidance, automated supertanker docking, automated aircraft landing, robot control, and machine vision. Essentially, the filter can be used for any application that measures resolvable angle data from known targets that must estimate relative position and attitude. Viable utilizations also include limb-motion analysis, as well as assembly-line position and crash-dummy motion analyses.