Estimation of absolute spatial position of mobile systems by hybrid opto-electronic processor

A mobile system with a hybrid opto-electronic processor has been studied. The position estimation is based on analysis of landmarks being detected by a TV-camera attached to the mobile system. The difference between the known real shape of the landmark and its image provides the information necessary for determining the relative position of the mobile system to the landmark. The parameters of the landmark image are extracted at high speed using an optical processor that performs an optical Hough transform, while the coordinates of the mobile system are computed from these parameters in a digital coprocessor using fast and simple algorithms. Different sources of errors have been analyzed, and algorithms to improve the performance of the mobile system have been developed and evaluated by computer simulation.<<ETX>>