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Autonomous multi-robot optical inspection systems are increasingly applied for obtaining inline measurements in process monitoring and quality control. Numerous methods for path planning and robotic coordination have been developed for…
Agile satellites are the new generation of Earth observation satellites (EOSs) with stronger attitude maneuvering capability. Since optical remote sensing instruments equipped on satellites cannot see through the cloud, the cloud coverage…
Today, the most widespread, widely applicable technology for gathering data relies on experienced scientists armed with handheld radio telemetry equipment to locate low-power radio transmitters attached to wildlife from the ground. Although…
The Earth observation satellites (EOSs) are specially designed to collect images according to user requirements. The agile EOSs (AEOS), with stronger attitude maneuverability, greatly improve the observation capability, while increasing the…
We present a description of the automated system used by RoboNet to prioritise follow up observations of microlensing events to search for planets. The system keeps an up-to-date record of all public data from OGLE and MOA together with any…
The GBOT group is in charge of the Ground Based Optical Tracking of the Gaia satellite. In concrete terms, since the launch of Gaia, our task is to take every night, using ground based medium-class telescopes, short sequences of $10$ or…
We present a conceptual design for a fiber positioning system for multi-object high-resolution spectroscopy, designed to be compatible with the upcoming large telescopes with a wide field of view. The design incorporates multiple…
The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) spectroscopic survey aims to deliver high-quality low-resolution ($R > 200$) slitless spectra for hundreds of millions of targets down to a limiting magnitude of about 21 mag, distributed within a…
In a companion article, we discussed the radiometric sensitivity and resolution of a new passive optical sensing technique, Space-Time Projection Optical Tomography (SPOT), to detect and track sub-cm and larger space debris for Space…
In astronomical spectroscopy, optical fibres are abundantly used for multiplexing and decoupling the spectrograph from the telescope to provide stability in a controlled environment. However, fibres are less than perfect optical components…
Animals such as insects have provided a rich source of inspiration for designing robots. For example, animals navigate to goals via efficient coordination of individual motor actions, and demonstrate natural solutions to problems also faced…
Optical fibres have already played a huge part in ground based astronomical instrumentation, however, with the revolution in photonics currently taking place new fibre technologies and integrated optical devices are likely to have a…
The efficiency of the management of top-class ground-based astronomical facilities supported by Adaptive Optics (AO) relies on our ability to forecast the optical turbulence (OT) and a set of relevant atmospheric parameters. Indeed, in…
Accurate and agile trajectory tracking in sub-gram Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) is challenging, as the small scale of the robot induces large model uncertainties, demanding robust feedback controllers, while the fast dynamics and…
At a fraction the total cost of an equivalent orbital mission, scientific balloon-borne platforms, operating above 99.7% of the Earth's atmosphere, offer attractive, competitive, and effective observational capabilities -- namely space-like…
Access to astronomical data through archives and VO is essential but does not solve all problems. Availability of appropriate software for analyzing the data is often equally important for the efficiency with which a researcher can publish…
Results of speckle observations at the 4.1-m SOAR telescope in 2012 (158 measures of 121 systems, 27 non-resolutions) are reported. The aim is to follow fast orbital motion of recently discovered or neglected close binaries and sub-systems.…
State-of-the-art space science missions increasingly rely on automation due to spacecraft complexity and the costs of human oversight. The high volume of data, including scientific and telemetry data, makes manual inspection challenging.…
Aerial wildlife tracking is critical for conservation efforts and relies on detecting small objects on the ground below the aircraft. It presents technical challenges: crewed aircraft are expensive, risky and disruptive; autonomous drones…
Given the cost and critical functions of satellite constellations, ensuring mission longevity and safe decommissioning is essential for space sustainability. This article presents a Model Predictive Control for spacecraft trajectory and…