Connection Machine System For Planetary Terrain Reconstruction And Visualization
Mark J. Carlotto, K. Hartt · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1990
An interactive system for computing terrain elevation maps and synthetic views of planetary scenes from a single panchromatic image is described. The system, implemented on an 8192 processor CM-2 Connection Machine, can generate an alternative view from an original (512 by 512) image in about 20 seconds. The system uses a shape-from-shading algorithm based on a numerical integration approach for computing relative elevations from the image and an oblique parallel projection/hidden surface removal algorithm for generating synthetic renditions of the scene. Both of these algorithms are implemented using scans and execute in constant time for a given image size. Results from Mars using Viking Orbiter imagery are presented.