Mars Helicopter successfully completed its second flight

Re:Mars Helicopter successfully completed its second flight by NovemberWhiskey on Thursday April 22, 2021 @05:39PM (#26908504)

>It looks like Ingenuity uses visual odometry from a downward-facing camera, which is likely to require a lot more processing than something like an STM32 could provide.

I believe that for Ingenuity they are actually doing this in software; but at this point, you can just buy off-the-shelf an optical flow odometry ASIC with a built-in camera and lens system that draws <5mA, fits in a 4x5mm footprint and gives you delta-X and delta-Y.

e.g. https://www.pixart.com/products-detail/108/PAA3905E1-Q

Kinda mind-blowing.

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Re:Mars Helicopter successfully completed its second flight by hoseja on Friday April 23, 2021 @06:13AM (#26913033)

Is that kind of like optical mouse sensor?

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Re:Mars Helicopter successfully completed its second flight by NovemberWhiskey on Friday April 23, 2021 @02:02PM (#26917401)

Yes it is! Obviously it's a slightly harder problem if you don't know the distance from the surface and you can't provide your own illumination.

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