Lunar Rover Navigation 1996
Stereo Vision

Algorithm:

1. Grab images and vehicle pose

2. Rectify images so that scan lines align (avoids precise calibration)

3. Select windows in images containing region of interest (reduces data)

4. Match images to find disparities

Compute disparities at full resolution by normalized correlation at selected image locations

This scheme reduces data volume but does not decrease range resolution

5. Map disparities to Cartesian coordinates in Rover frame of reference

Performance:

Cycle time:

1.8 seconds

Accuracy:

Degrades quadratically with distance

2 cm at 2 m

16 cm at 8 m