Multi-Functional Flash Lidar Software for Precision Safe Landing

This presentation describes a Multi-Functional Flash Lidar sensor system suitable for autonomous landing. The sensor is designed to perform Relative Navigation, Altimetry, Terrain Relative Navigation, Hazard Detection and Hazard Avoidance capabilities. The core of the sensor is a novel Super-Resolution algorithm utilized to produce Digital Elevation Maps (DEM) and vehicle state information in real-time. The real-time implementation on a GPU will be presented, along with field test results. Although the system is optimized for Lunar landing systems, the sensor can be used on the Lunar surface, as well as landing on other bodies.