DEVELOPMENT OF A LASER RANGE FINDER FOR THE ANTARCTIC PLATEAU
The development of sensing subsystems is crucial to the operation of highly autonomous robots in harsh environments. This paper will describe the methodologies used and the preliminary measure-ment campaigns, with the relevant results obtained, which were carried out for the realisation of a high pe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.572.5770 http://www.eproceedings.org/static/vol01_1/01_1_bartolini1.pdf |
| Summary: | The development of sensing subsystems is crucial to the operation of highly autonomous robots in harsh environments. This paper will describe the methodologies used and the preliminary measure-ment campaigns, with the relevant results obtained, which were carried out for the realisation of a high performance laser range finder. The sensor will be installed on an autonomous rover (RAS), lodged on a specially conditioned housing in front of the vehicle allowing for the greatest visibility and optimum protection. The RAS will be used for scientific campaigns and logistic support opera-tions specifically in Antarctica and possibly in other snowy environments. Preliminary tests have been already carried out in Glaciers and Snow fields campaigns. A problem is the very poor S/N ratio in sunlight conditions, caused by the total backscattering of clean snow surface. Additional difficulties come from the behaviour of icy surfaces and from the poor transparency of the atmos-phere caused by wind-driven ice microcrystals. The technological solutions chosen to overcome these aspects will be analysed. |
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