The effect of a rocky terrain for CubeSat landing on asteroid surfaces

The paper describes a general modelling procedure to build a simulation tool to investigate contact motion of a CubeSat on an asteroid surface. We investigate landing performance and landing success for the case of elastic rocky terrain and flat surfaces. As a case study, we focus on the disposal of ESA’s Hera Milani CubeSat by landing on the moon of Didymos binary asteroid system. The simulation environment includes the modelling of real shape and 6-DOF motion of the lander, the shape-based gravity models of Didymos and Dimorphos and rocks on surface, that are generated as physical obstacles. Trends and estimates on the performance of the landing phase and the most relevant effects on the outcome of the soil interaction process, are inferred. The statistical results on settling time, dispersion area and motion characteristics, such as number of bounces, show and quantify the effect of rocks on a successful passive and permanent landing.     

Optimal crater landmark selection based on optical navigation performance factors for planetary landing

Planetary craters are natural navigation landmarks that widely exist and are easily observed. Optical navigation based on crater landmarks has become an important autonomous navigation method for planetary landing. Due to the increase in observed crater landmarks and the limitation of onboard computation, the selection of good crater landmarks has gradually become a research hotspot in the field of landmark-based optical navigation. This paper designs a fast crater landmark selection method, which not only considers the configuration observability of crater subsets but also focuses on the influence on navigation performance arising from the measurement uncertainty and the matching confidence of craters, which is different from other landmark selection methods. The factor of measurement uncertainty, which is anisotropic, correlated and nonidentically distributed, is quantified and integrated into selection based on crater pairing detection and localization error evaluation. In addition, the concept of the crater matching confidence factor is introduced, which reflects the possibility of 2D projection measurements corresponding to 3D positions. Combined with the configuration observability factor, the crater landmark selection indicator is formed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by Monte Carlo simulations.     

月表陨坑检测轻量化深度学习方法

针对目前基于深度学习的陨坑检测方法存在的模型参数量大和检测速度慢的问题，提出了一种轻量化的深度学习陨坑检测方法。首先，采用通道剪枝方法删减卷积神经网络中冗余的卷积核，得到结构紧凑高效的陨坑检测模型。然后，使用轻量化的深度可分离卷积操作替换基础陨坑检测模型中的标准卷积操作，进一步降低了模型的复杂度。仿真实验结果表明，所提出的轻量化陨坑检测模型能够保证较高的像素预测精度，并且能够适应亮度、图像噪声等干扰因素的影响。同时，与轻量化处理前的模型相比，参数量减少了99.2%，检测速度提升了94%。     

基于自适应预测校正的月球软着陆制导控制方法

应用自适应预测制导方法，研究月球软着陆过程中的制导控制问题。作为一种具有逻辑结构的构造性方法，本文概述了自适应预测制导方法的实现步骤。针对月球软着陆过程中制导控制量少于被控制量这一“欠驱动”问题，在已有的基于一阶特征模型的全系数自适应预测校正方法的基础上，将输入输出相等的系统拓展为输入少于输出的“欠驱动”系统，以满足对位置、速度矢量同时进行制导控制的需要。本文针对初始状态误差、推力偏差、质量偏差以及比冲偏差下的软着陆过程，进行了Monte Carlo仿真分析，结果表明，自适应预测制导方法可有效用于月球软着陆过程的制导控制，且具有较高的精度和较强的鲁棒性。     

某大型飞机后缘襟翼气动/机构综合优化设计

大型飞机增升装置的研制不仅需要其提供足够的气动性能,也需要对噪声、舒适性等进行综合考量设计,而增升装置是提高大型飞机综合性能的重要系统,也是目前技术发展亟待研究和解决的重要问题。对于增升装置机构设计,通过设计较为简单的铰链襟翼机构来引导襟翼达到较优位置,然后选择气动性能较好的位置作为新的优化位置,求得较优机构位置。机构位置改变结合气动性能验证需要进行大量的迭代计算以及结果优化,因此以机构设计为基础,探究多目标优化计算的新方法,最终实现气动结构一体化设计目标。选用铰链式后缘襟翼为研究对象,综合考量后缘襟翼旋转与扰流板下偏联合运动对于气动性能影响,利用所研究方法,对其进行气动机构一体化设计并得出设计结果。     

The day-to-day variability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere in low latitudes: A study using MF radar

This study presents the analysis of planetary waves (PWs) using daily mean wind velocities for four years (August 2013 to July 2017) of continuous measurements using MF radar over the low latitude Indian region Kolhapur (16.8° N; 74.2° E). The MF radar at Kolhapur was upgraded in 2013. These are the first results of PWs after the upgradation of MF radar. The seasonal and intra-seasonal variabilities of East-West (EW) traveling PWs in the MLT region have been studied. In the present work, the data was analyzed to study the waves with various periodicities (e.g. 3–4, 5–8, 15–17, and 30–60 days). The 3.5 day [Ultra-Fast Kelvin (UFK)] wave shows semiannual variability with burst like wave activity observed during the summer months and December solstice. In addition, it is observed to be stronger in the spring equinoctial period. A strong semiannual oscillation (SAO) has been observed in a 6.5-day wave with peaks near the equinoxes. Similar to SAO over the low latitude MLT region, the wave activity is stronger in April/May than in September/October. The 6.5-day waves are observed to be stronger when the background mean wind is westward. From the analysis, it has been seen that the period before and after the equinoctial period is favorable for the 6.5-day wave propagation. The 16-day wave has no significant seasonal dependence; instead, the waves spread to almost all seasons. The Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs) have been observed to be propagating with an average wind speed of ～ 5 m/s when the background mean wind is eastward. The occurrence of MJO is observed during the summer and winter months. These results are the first of their kind in two aspects: first, they show the PWs with enhanced altitude coverage covering up to 110 km, and second, they show the PWs not contaminated due to equatorial electro jet influence.     

MC-LRF based pose measurement system for shipborne aircraft automatic landing

Due to the portability and anti-interference ability, vision-based shipborne aircraft automatic landing systems have attracted the attention of researchers. In this paper, a Monocular Camera and Laser Range Finder (MC-LRF)-based pose measurement system is designed for shipborne aircraft automatic landing. First, the system represents the target ship using a set of sparse landmarks, and a two-stage model is adopted to detect landmarks on the target ship. The rough 6D pose is measured by solving a Perspective-n-Point problem. Then, once the rough pose is measured, a region-based pose refinement is used to continuously track the 6D pose in the subsequent image sequences. To address the low accuracy of monocular pose measurement in the depth direction, the designed system adopts a laser range finder to obtain an accurate range value. The measured rough pose is iteratively optimized using the accurate range measurement. Experimental results on synthetic and real images show that the system achieves robust and precise pose measurement of the target ship during automatic landing. The measurement means error is within 0.4° in rotation, and 0.2% in translation, meeting the requirements for automatic fixed-wing aircraft landing.Received 5 July 2022; revised 19 August 2022; accepted 27 September 2022.     

面向视觉着陆的高精度结构化约束特征点研究

为提高视觉着陆过程中无人机的相对定位精度,选取视觉图像中的直线交点作为结构化约束特征点,设计了基于梯度一致性的边缘检测算法,并结合Shi-Tomasi角点检测算法进行结构化约束特征点的粗定位。对LSD直线检测算法进行改进并设计了亚像素角点定位精度改进算法,在结构化约束特征点粗定位的基础上,将其精度提高到亚像素级。基于实际场景中固有约束的结构化约束特征点具有鲁棒性、旋转和尺度不变性,抗干扰能力更强,其高精度定位有利于提高视觉着陆相对定位的精度与可靠性。     

基于深度强化学习的复杂地形适应机器人设计与实验

针对行星表面轻量化自主探测任务，基于仿生思想设计了一种仿海胆结构的十二足球形机器人，其具备自主改变构型以贴合复杂地形的能力，可实现无倾覆、高容错的全向运动；基于数据驱动方法，对该机器人设计了一种数据高效的无模型强化学习运动策略，可实现无先验知识的从0到1步态训练以及步态的实物样机快速部署。通过在平面地形和非结构化地形中对其进行仿真实验，验证了经过训练的机器人具备自主运动、适应非结构地形等能力；通过与常用基准策略进行对比，证实了本文提出的运动策略具有训练高效、鲁棒性好的优势；最后通过开发原理样机，开展实物实验验证了仿真环境中所生成的步态在真实物理环境中的动力学可行性。     

Performance analysis of the vectorized high order expansions method in the accurate landing problem of reusable boosters

This paper addresses the design of the terminal phase maneuver of the booster landing in the presence of initial deviations and uncertainties. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the vectorized high order expansions method to extract commands and near-optimal trajectory, while the accurate satisfaction of the terminal conditions is of great importance. After reviewing high order expansions methods, the Vectorized High Order Expansions method is briefly discussed. Then, the solution for the booster landing problem is extracted up to the third order. To study the solution quality in the presence of uncertainties, mass, density, and gravity are assumed to be constant in extracting the 3rd order solution. The assumptions however are eliminated in the simulations, and the effectiveness of high order expansions solution is studied subjectively and numerically in the presence of initial deviations and uncertainties. After implementing simulations and considering different assumptions, it will be shown that the 3rd order solution holds a desirable quality in accurately satisfying final conditions in presence of uncertainties and initial deviations and provides far better results than the 1st order solution. Moreover, in this paper, a novel method is proposed for online updating, and the performance and effect of this modification are studied using simulations. Reviewing the results of the 3rd order solution combined with the online update strategy, it becomes clear that the implementation of the online update significantly reduces landing point errors and improves the performance of the high order method. Furthermore, the study compares the performance of this strategy with the well-known state-dependent Riccati equation method to better evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.