UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS OF IMAGE FEATURES FOR VISIONAPPLICATIONS IN SPACE

A detailed uncertainty analysis for the position of image features is described. Three main uncertainty sources are identified and evaluated: image noise, lighting direction and image resolution. Since the proposed method does not need to acquire multiple images of the same scene in the same shooting conditions, it is particularly suited for applications with a relative motion between the camera and the scene and/or between the lighting source and the scene. The described method is applied to the images acquired during the recent asteroid Lutetia fly-by using the Narrow Angle Camera of the OSIRIS instrument. OSIRIS is a payload of the Rosetta ESA space mission. The obtained numerical results, including histograms and standard uncertainties, are depicted and discussed