[X] My Assistant

[algorimancer]

I have released a new version of the AlgorimancerPG rangefinder and photogrammetry tool. It is currently up to version 2.6. The latest addition provides Sol/time data for each image, plus calculates the 3D angle spanned by the last two targets (as seen from the rover). The latter feature struck me as potentially useful in navigating Victoria's ejecta blanket, and much easier than counting pixels.

As usual, the latest version can be found here:

http://www.clarkandersen.com/RangeFinder.htm

And here's a screenshot:



Let me know if there are any suggestions/problems.

For those unfamiliar with the application, the details of how it works have been extensively discussed in the "Range Finding - Parallax Calculations" thread, which you'll find here: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1768. It also includes a user guide in the zip file, and another quick user guide under the Help menu.

[algorimancer]

Major update to AlgorimancerPG, adding support for the Phoenix SSI camera, improved image rendering, and faster image properties database.

http://www.clarkandersen.com/RangeFinder.htm

Details:

Current Version 4.0 (May 2008)

The AlgorimancerPG application has lately undergone some very major revisions, principally to support the Phoenix lander in addition to the MER rovers.

1) Support for the Phoenix lander's SSI stereo camera has been added, thanks to support from the camera's PI, Mark Lemmon. This will allow ranging and photogrammetry within a stereo pair of images, however at this time there is no database support available (from the mission), which means that such things as true azimuth and elevation are not available.

2) The internal MER database, which provides rover position and camera orientation so that true azimuth and elevation can be determined, has been extensively revised. The local database file (the ImgBinDat file in the executable directory) is now in a binary format supporting subsequent extension as needed. More importantly, within the application the database is now in a sorted format, which means that it is much quicker to search and update than in prior versions, and handles updates more robustly than before.

3) Image rendering now uses the CxImage library rather than the prior (very slow) Microsoft .Net approach. This means that images will render almost instantly, and they now follow the cursor when dragged. One consequence of making the dragging behavior flicker-free has been a change of the background color from white to black (the only real difference from the screenshot below).

In spite of all of these changes the behavior of the application is otherwise virtually unchanged.

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Between now and the Phoenix landing there may be one (possibly two) additional releases of APG strictly related to Phoenix. The Phoenix sol/time conversion from the image header is currently incorrect, and is on my TODO list. If some sort of image database support similar to the Pancam Tracking database becomes available for Phoenix I am contemplating adding support for the RAC (the camera on the robotic arm); currently this is not in the cards. Meanwhile, MER users should appreciate the vastly faster database handling and image dragging.

[algorimancer]

For those not following the Phoenix thread... Current version of APG is 4.0.5. I identified a few bugs with version 4 this morning when I had a look at the first Phoenix stereo pair, the worst of which would have left that version effectively unusable - the result of doing my testing with a debug rather than a release version. Fixed that bug, validated (as best I could) the Phoenix camera model (by correctly measuring the diameter of the landing pad), plus fixed the Phoenix Sol/Local-time display. The 4.0.5 version should be it for awhile, unless some other bugs turn-up or a Phoenix tracking database is made available.