NASA SBIR 2019-I Solicitation

Proposal Summary


PROPOSAL NUMBER:
 19-1- S3.04-4200
SUBTOPIC TITLE:
 Guidance, Navigation and Control
PROPOSAL TITLE:
 Ultra Low SWaP Relative Navigation
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Astrobotic Technology, Inc.
2515 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222- 4613
(412) 682-3282

Principal Investigator (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Andrew Horchler
E-mail:
andrew.horchler@astrobotic.com
Address:
2515 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 - 4613
Phone:
(216) 272-3882

Business Official (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Jeffrey Apeldoorn
E-mail:
Jeffrey.Apeldoorn@astrobotic.com
Address:
2515 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 - 4613
Phone:
(571) 232-5029
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :
Begin: 3
End: 4
Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)

Astrobotic proposes the development and prototyping of a low Size, Weight and Power, Performance, and Cost (SWaP-PC) visual navigation system capable of implementing industry standard visual navigation methods such as Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) or visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The system components will provide a compact form factor fitting within approximately 1U (10 x 10 x 10 cm), weight less than 2 kg, and require less than 5W to power, enabling its use in power constrained applications such as CubeSats and SmallSats. The system’s interfacing would be designed to allow for flexibility of usage as either a part of a larger navigation solution or a standalone sensor on a small exploration spacecraft. A Xilinx Zynq 7020 System-on-Chip will be integrated into a larger system that includes a camera and IMU. This system will be used to test a version of Astrobotic’s Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) algorithm modified to utilize Xilinx Zynq 7020 processing capabilities and balance performance with the computational limits of the low SWaP system.

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
  • CubeSat and SmallSat applications
  • Mission infusion for low SWaP exploration missions
Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
  • Landing of reusable launch vehicles 
  • Satellite maintenance and refueling 
  • Commercial lunar landing vehicles
Duration: 6

Form Generated on 06/16/2019 23:36:23