cFS Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool (cGIANT)

About this technology

Overview

Optical navigation (OpNav) is a technique whereby cameras (both monocular and 3D) are used to generate relative navigation measurements between an observed object and the camera. These relative measurements are very powerful for navigation purposes, especially when navigating with respect to the object observed. The Core Flight System (cFS) Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool (cGIANT) is an onboard library for use with cFS applications that provides the ability to perform various types of optical navigation, including terrain relative navigation, limb-based navigation, unresolved center finding, and resolved center finding. cGIANT builds upon the algorithms developed in the python based GIANT, keeping the same design decisions making it both capable for common tasks and easily extensible for new methods. cGIANT serves as the OpNav capabilities for the autonomous navigation, guidance, and control (autoNGC) suite of cFS applications.