Concurrent image-based visual servoing with adaptive zooming for non-cooperative rendezvous maneuvers

An image-based servo controller for the guidance of a spacecraft during non-cooperative rendezvous is presented in this paper. The controller directly utilizes the visual features from image frames of a target spacecraft for computing both attitude and orbital maneuvers concurrently. The utilization of adaptive optics, such as zooming cameras, is also addressed through developing an invariant-image servo controller. The controller allows for performing rendezvous maneuvers independently from the adjustments of the camera focal length, improving the performance and versatility of maneuvers. The stability of the proposed control scheme is proven analytically in the invariant space, and its viability is explored through numerical simulations.