Lunatone

LUNATONE addresses the problem of depth from disparity algorithms breaking down in lunar environments due to insufficient test conditions for algorithm improvement. This effort will deliver an innovative method to create a reliable synthetic vision precision navigation test environment for areas with limited or no access to real-world testing, such as the lunar environment. The competitive advantage of our proposal is that it will deliver an improved testing environment at a very similar cost compared with existing synthetic environment development technology. Our competitive advantage is achieved by implementing an innovative combination of existing tools used in the gaming industry with machine learning tools to rapidly create unique displacement maps to produce unique key features effectively. There is already a sizable market for autonomous (robotic) systems of $3 billion per year, which is expected to grow significantly with the increase of autonomous vehicles. Though harder to quantify, the cost of failure is higher because of the increased interest in exploring the surface of the moon, with three landing attempts in the last 12 months. Lunar exploration is a significant growth area for our technology and a significant portion of the development and certification of vision-based navigation systems is for training and testing. Any improvement of the development process will be valuable. Because qualifying a new vision system for precision navigation requires a significant investment on the part of the developer, the adoption of a training and testing technology will only occur if there is a high-performance benefit equal to the cost.

LUNATONE implements existing tools used in the gaming industry, combined with machine learning tools, to deliver an improved testing environment at a similar cost as existing synthetic environment development technology. The market for autonomous (robotic) systems has reached $3 billion per year, which is expected to grow significantly with the increase of autonomous vehicles.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 2) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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