DEVELOPMENT OF A LASER RANGE FINDER FOR THE ANTARCTIC PLATEAU

• Main Authors: L. Bartolini, A. Bordone, R. Fantoni, M. Ferri De Collibus, G. Fornetti, C. Moriconi, C. Poggi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• 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

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.