Calibration of a vision-based system for displacement measurement in planetary exploration space missions

In planetary exploration space missions, motion measurement of a vehicle on the surface of a planet is a very important task. In this work a visual-odometry solution is analyzed. Particularly, a vision-based displacement instrument is described and calibrated using a simulated rocky scene. The most significant uncertainty sources are found out by experimental tests. Particular attention is dedicated to the uncertainty contributions of the feature detector and of lighting conditions. Two different motion directions are considered and the evaluated uncertainty are compared.