Remote Sensing, Vol. 13, Pages 4239: Pose Estimation of Non-Cooperative Space Targets Based on Cross-Source Point Cloud Fusion (Remote Sensing)

On-orbit space technology is used for tasks such as the relative navigation of non-cooperative targets, rendezvous and docking, on-orbit assembly, and space debris removal. In particular, the pose estimation of space non-cooperative targets is a prerequisite for studying these applications. The capabilities of a single sensor are limited, making it difficult to achieve high accuracy in the measurement range. Against this backdrop, a non-cooperative target pose measurement system fused with multi-source sensors was designed in this study. First, a cross-source point cloud fusion algorithm was developed. This algorithm uses the unified and simplified expression of geometric elements in conformal geometry algebra, breaks the traditional point-to-point correspondence, and constructs matching relationships between points and spheres. Next, for the fused point cloud, we proposed a plane clustering-method-based CGA to eliminate point cloud diffusion and then reconstruct the 3D contour model. Finally, we used a twistor along with the Clohessy–Wiltshire equation to obtain the posture and other motion parameters of the non-cooperative target through the unscented Kalman filter. In both the numerical simulations and the semi-physical experiments, the proposed measurement system met the requirements for non-cooperative target measurement accuracy, and the estimation error of the angle of the rotating spindle was 30% lower than that of other, previously studied methods. The proposed cross-source point cloud fusion algorithm can achieve high registration accuracy for point clouds with different densities and small overlap rates.