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The Canadian Astro-H Metrology System (CAMS) on the Hitomi X-ray satellite is a laser alignment system that measures the lateral displacement (X/Y) of the extensible optical bench (EOB) along the optical axis of the hard X-ray telescopes…
We propose an approach to detect flying objects such as UAVs and aircrafts when they occupy a small portion of the field of view, possibly moving against complex backgrounds, and are filmed by a camera that itself moves. Solving such a…
In the past few years, there has been a resurgence in studies towards space-based optical/infrared interferometry, particularly with the vision to use the technique to discover and characterise temperate Earth-like exoplanets around solar…
During the last decades the industry has seen the number of Earth orbiting satellites rise, mostly due to the need to monitor Earth as well as to establish global communication networks. Nano, micro, and small satellites have been a prime…
This paper presents the design of a small aerial robot for inhabited microgravity environments, such as orbiting space stations (e.g., ISS). In particular, we target a fleet of robots, called Space CoBots, for collaborative tasks with…
We have developed an atom interferometer providing a full inertial base. This device uses two counter-propagating cold-atom clouds that are launched in strongly curved parabolic trajectories. Three single Raman beam pairs, pulsed in time,…
A new generation of sub-orbital platforms will be operational in the next few years. These new telescopes will operate from airborne and balloon-borne platforms where the atmosphere is transparent enough to allow sensitive measurements to…
This paper considers the coupled orbit and attitude dynamics of a dumbbell spacecraft around an asteroid. Geometric methods are used to derive the coupled equations of motion, defined on the configuration space of the special Euclidean…
Positioning with one inertial measurement unit and one ranging sensor is commonly thought to be feasible only when trajectories are in certain patterns ensuring observability. For this reason, to pursue observable patterns, it is required…
We propose a new instrumental concept for long-baseline optical single-mode interferometry using integrated optics which were developed for telecommunication. Visible and infrared multi-aperture interferometry requires many optical…
We are developing a compact UV Imager using light weight components, that can be flown on a small CubeSat or a balloon platform. The system has a lens-based optics that can provide an aberration-free image over a wide field of view. The…
This paper presents a novel tightly coupled Filter-based monocular visual-inertial-wheel odometry (VIWO) system for ground robots, designed to deliver accurate and robust localization in long-term complex outdoor navigation scenarios. As an…
The emergence of low-cost, small form factor and light-weight solid-state LiDAR sensors have brought new opportunities for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by advancing navigation safety and computation efficiency. Yet the…
This paper describes the development of a novel algorithm to tackle the problem of real-time video stabilization for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). There are two main components in the algorithm: (1) By designing a suitable model for the…
Large astronomical instruments using tens to hundreds of optical or infrared science detectors pose specific challenges for detector control, where, in addition to performance, other engineering aspects like scalability, power consumption,…
This paper describes the wave-front correction system developed for the Sunrise balloon telescope, and provides information about its in-flight performance. For the correction of low-order aberrations, a Correlating Wave-Front Sensor (CWS)…
To enable space-based quantum key distribution proposals the Centre for Quantum Technologies is developing a source of entangled photons ruggedized to survive deployment in space and greatly miniaturised so that it conforms to the strict…
A NASA sounding rocket for high-contrast imaging with a visible nulling coronagraph, the PICTURE payload, has made two suborbital attempts to observe the warm dust disk inferred around Epsilon Eridani. The first flight in 2011 demonstrated…
Vision-based pose estimation plays a crucial role in the autonomous navigation of flight platforms. However, the field of view and spatial resolution of the camera limit pose estimation accuracy. This paper designs a divergent…
Quadruped robots are currently a widespread platform for robotics research, thanks to powerful Reinforcement Learning controllers and the availability of cheap and robust commercial platforms. However, to broaden the adoption of the…