Past Projects
Space
Space Vision System
Developed for the Shuttle program, Neptec’s Space Vision System is used to provide real-time, precise visual and numerical alignment and positioning cues to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station crews when installing new modules of the space station.
Over the years, Neptec has developed three versions of the SVS for NASA and has seen the SVS software through 12 formal software upgrades, and operationally supported over 20 missions.
Laser Camera System
The Laser Camera System (LCS) is a high-precision auto synchronous triangulation 3D laser scanner designed to perform on-orbit inspection of the spacecraft. It is a mandatory sensor for every Shuttle mission and is used to inspect the heat shield of the Space Shuttle to ensure safe re-entry.
Autonomous Rendezvous & Docking - TriDAR
TriDAR is Neptec’s innovative space-qualified Autonomous Rendezvous & Docking sensor. It provides autonomous real-time tracking and pose estimation of a target without the need for any “reflectors” at ranges between 0.5m and 2km without sacrificing speed or precision at either end of the range. The system has flown repeatedly on the Space Shuttle and is being deployed on the unmanned Cygnus spacecraft under development by Orbital Sciences Crop. to resupply the International Space Station. The technology can be adapted to other applications such as in-flight aircraft refuelling or subsea underwater docking and robotics applications.
Juno Rover
Neptec is the team lead for the design and development of the NRT Rover. The NRT Rover is a concept lunar rover vehicle being developed in conjunction with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). With plans to explore the moon, the NRT Rover will be capable of a variety of functions including exploration, mapping of the lunar surface, drilling for water, excavation, preparation of landing sites for lunar landers and transporting astronauts to their lunar bases.
Defence
OPAL (Obscurant Penetrating Asynchronous LiDAR)
OPAL is a proprietary 3D laser scanner and software algorithms that penetrate through dust clouds, fog or turbid water. Originally developed to for helicopter landings in brownout conditions in the desert, a demonstration system was successfully flown on a Bell 412 helicopter in the Yuma Proving Ground range. The technology can readily be adapted to various Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) applications or for environment monitoring and inspection where poor visibility negates the use of conventional LiDAR and camera systems. The OPAL software algorithms can be integrated without hardware changes with existing LiDAR systems or as part of a multi-sensor vision system to improve performance in poor visibility conditions and reduce false alarm rates.
VISR
As part of an industry consortium, Neptec integrated its advanced 3D automatic change detection technology into the Volumetric Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance (VISR) system. VISR was developed for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) to detect potential threats from a moving vehicle and alert the driver in real-time. Neptec achieved a better than 95% object detection rate with zero false alarms. The technology can be extended to other Intelligence and surveillance applications, including the automatic analysis of 3D intelligence data, persistent surveillance for Border Security.
URGENT
The Urban Reasoning and Geospatial Exploitation Technology (URGENT) program undertaken by DARPA aimed at developing an automated object recognition system that extracts tactically significant features in urban terrain. As part of this initiative, Neptec primed the collection of a high-resolution 3D data of Ottawa which has since become the standard for geo-referenced 3D urban data sets. Neptec’s intelligent 3D data algorithms were further used to automatically identify and classify objects in the data set. The technology can be applied to both real-time and post-processing for 3D data to enable various Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) applications. The intelligent classification algorithms interact with the operator or analyst to adapt and optimize their effectiveness.
Industry
LUCIE
LUCIE (Laser Underwater Camera Image Enhancer) uses proprietary pulsed laser radar technology (LIDAR) for underwater inspection, intervention, repair and maintenance. LUCIE uses a unique approach to subsea imaging. Rather than using floodlights to attempt to overpower the turbidity, LUCIE uses a pulsed laser radar as an illumination source. LUCIE’s camera shutter is closed when the light pulse is emitted, and is only opened for a brief period after waiting for the pulse to travel from the sensor to the object and back. Any light that is reflected off the suspended particles in the water is completely ignored by the camera, thereby increasing visibility by a factor of 3 to 5 times. The sensor can be configured to be hand-held by a diver, mounted on a hard diving suit, or attached to an ROV. LUCIE was originally developed and tested by the Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). Neptec is commercializing the technology.
EIT
3D Imaging using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) was originally developed for detecting landmines buried in underwater sediments. EIT uses an array of electrodes to measure the ground electrical conductivity and create a 3D image beneath the subsea floor of local perturbations. The technology can be adapted for underwater survey applications to detect boulders buried underneath the seafloor to improve productivity during deep trenching operations for laying subsea pipelines, flow lines and umbilicals.
Neptec LMS
The Neptec Laser Metrology System (LMS) is a high-resolution 3D laser scanner developed for non-contract dimensional verification in the manufacturing industry. Its patent-pending design incorporates a fully steerable laser beam, enabling the user to easily program any random scan pattern to selectively scan only specific areas of interest for the part being inspected, and at the desired accuracy and scan density. This significantly reduces overall inspection time without sacrificing accuracy to improve productivity, while also minimizing the amount of 3D data that must be captured, processed and stored.
