Terrain Data Base Generation for Autonomous Land Vehicle Navigation.

Abstract

The U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories (USAETL) has the task of producing a high resolution, high accuracy experimental digital terrain data base of a 16 square kilometer test site. This data base will be used in conjunction with an inertial navigation system within an Autonomous Land Vehicle (ALV). The data base will initially consist of six overlays including landforms, soils, surface drainage, land cover, roads, and a digital elevation model (DEM) at five meter spacing. Data on obstacles, control points, and mobility will be added later. ALV applications of the terrain data base include premission route planning, operational context, and a prior information for machine vision. It is expected that ALV experiments will lead to future data base revisions. Compilation of this data base is being performed on the Computer-Assisted Photo Interpretation Research (CAPIR) system at USAETL. CAPIR is an ongoing research effort which addresses the issues of digital terrain data extraction, storage, and exploitation. This integrated system consists of an analytical plotter equipped with stereo-superposition graphics and a geographic information system to provide the mechanism for 3-dimensional data capture, verification and management. This paper will address data requirements and systems for building terrain data bases in support of experimental autonomous land vehicle navigation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 28, 1986
Accession Number
ADA187869

Entities

People

  • Daniel L. Edwards
  • Gregory B. Desmond
  • Michael W. Schoppmann

Organizations

  • Geospatial Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Cameras
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Computer Vision
  • Databases
  • Demographic Cohorts
  • Elevation
  • Engineers
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Inertial Navigation
  • Inertial Navigation Systems
  • Information Systems
  • Landforms
  • Navigation
  • Navigational Equipment
  • Photography
  • Three Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Proposed Air Force Base Actions.
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Space