This paper describes the high precision digital sun sensor under development at the University of Naples. The sensor determines the sun line orientation in the sensor frame from the measurement of the sun position on the focal plane. It exploits CMOS technology and an original optical head design with multiple apertures. This allows simultaneous multiple acquisitions of the sun as spots on the ...

Direct geo-referencing is an efficient methodology for the fast acquisition of 3D spatial data. It requires the fusion of spatial data acquisition sensors with navigation sensors, such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In this contribution, we consider an integrated GNSS navigation system to provide estimates of the position and attitude (orientation) of a 3D laser scanner...

The employment of embedded cameras in navigation and guidance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has attracted the focus of many academic researches. In particular, for the multirotor UAV, the camera is widely employed for applications performed in indoor environments, where the GNSS signal is often unreliable and electromagnetic interference can be a concern. In the literature, images are mostl...

This paper describes a path toward the development of theory for using a low noise high frame rate camera as a star tracker for spacecraft attitude estimation. The benefit of using a low noise high frame rate camera is that star data can be sampled at a faster rate while allowing one to measure very dim stars, increasing the number of stars available for attitude estimation. The development of ...

NAVSYS have developed a GPS/inertial/video integrated system, the GI-Eye that is designed to provide precision 3-D mapping and modeling data. For both military and commercial applications, there is a need to have a robust method of continuing operation during periods of GPS drop-outs. When the GPS satellite signals are denied, either through intentional jamming or by natural conditions such as ...

We report on the design, calibration and in-flight performance of a sun sensor, which is used to determine the attitude of a balloon-borne telescope. The device uses a position-sensitive detector (PSD) in a pinhole camera. By determining the position of the image of the Sun on the PSD, the orientation of the sun sensor and the boresight of the telescope relative to the Sun can be determined. Th...

A new attitude sensor is proposed that consists of a single global positioning system (GPS) antenna mounted on a turntable with its phase center offset from the turntable's spin axis. It is being considered as a means of sensing 3-axis attitude information. It is attractive because its GPS receiver could have a low number of channels and, therefore, be smaller and use less power. The system sen...

INTRODUCTION Breaking bad news may be affected not only by insufficient knowledge of a physician, but also by his attitude, religious beliefs, fears, lack of experience, etc. This survey was aimed to test the relation between physicians' fear of own death and philosophy of life and their inclination to break bad news. MATERIAL AND METHODS One hundred seventy students of the last year of medic...

The Extended Gaussian Image (EGI) of an object records the variation of surface area with surface orientation, uniquely representing convex objects. The inversion problem for polyhedra (from an EGI to a description in terms of vertices and faces) has been solved, by an iterative algorithm [Little, 1983]. The algorithm depends upon the mixed volume, a geometric construction linking the areas and...