Vision-based navigation for proximity operations
Monocular navigation for active debris removal and in-orbit servicing, where the relative pose between chaser and target must be known accurately.
Deep learningRendezvousDomain gap
Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna
Microsatellites and
Space Microsystems
- L a b o r a t o r y -
Since 2004 we have designed microsatellites and the technologies that make them possible: attitude control, autonomous navigation, propulsion, on-board systems and ground stations. And we test them on the ground, on benches we build ourselves, before they fly.
11
team members
8
research lines
2
satellites launched
150+
publications since 2004
Research
Research lines
Activities cover autonomous navigation, attitude control, space surveillance and on-board systems for small platforms. Each line is carried through to experimental verification on the lab test benches.
Autonomous collision avoidance
Accurate and cost-effective solutions to avoid collisions in orbit. Candidate conjunctions are by now too many to be handled manually one by one.
Space traffic managementABACOOB-ASTRA
Space situational awareness
Monitoring, tracking and characterising objects in Earth orbit, with ground based and spaceborne sensors, to predict and avoid collisions.
DetritiAstrometriaCamere a eventi
Attitude determination and control
Pointing accuracy and stability on platforms with limited hardware, verified on the ground before flight.
CubeSatAOCSControllo magnetico
Facilities
The test benches
Test benches built in house for the ground verification of attitude, optical navigation and image quality, and a ground station for operations.
CubeDyna
A CubeSat attitude dynamics facility: an air bearing platform inside a Helmholtz cage, with simulated solar illumination and Earth albedo.
Robotic testbed
Physically reproduces the relative motion between two satellites in proximity, acquiring images in known and repeatable conditions instead of simulating them.
Image motion compensation
A Forward Motion Compensation prototype: the sensor, not the optics, is translated in antiphase with the apparent motion of the scene.
Alma Mater Ground Station
The lab ground station, with a software defined radio transceiver, used for university satellite operations.
Students
Internships and theses
The lab supervises curricular internships and bachelor and master theses on its own research lines, with access to the facilities and a supervisor and co-supervisor alongside.
We have worked with
- European Space Agency
- Italian Space Agency
- Thales Alenia Space
- SpaceDyS
- Nautilus
- INAF OAS Bologna
- SITAEL
- Telespazio
- Politecnico di Torino, STAR Lab
- University of Luxembourg, SnT