Background:

The computer science senior design team from California State University, Los Angeles is partnering with Jet Propulsion Laboratory to add further functionality to MoonTrek Augmented Reality. Previously JPL has tasked groups of seniors to create a web application that allows users to upload their own images of the Moon and accurately annotate them with multiple overlays from JPL's MoonTrek site. Last year’s group accomplished this by implementing a context aware image registration algorithm. They did this by creating a dynamic reference image from a model of the Earth, Moon, and the Sun at the time of the user’s image in three.js. They then performed image registration with the user’s image cropped at dimensions provided by a circle detection algorithm, as well as a context-aware reference image created by the 3D model. The team was able to successfully test their algorithm with one overlay.

New Goals:

The batch of 2023-2024 primary goals are:

• Build an external website which allows users to submit images with metadata for testing purposes

• Implement AWS backend to save images and user metadata in YourMoon

• Provide 9 more choices of overlay to place on the user’s image

• Improve efficiency and accuracy of the image registration

• Implement infinite zoom on user’s image (allow users to zoom in to their image all the way to the surface of the Moon)

• Improve UI/UX of the website

Accomplished:

• Created a model of the Moon in Cesium with its texture fetching from JPL’s WMTS LRO WAC endpoint that can serve as the model to zoom into for infinite zoom

• Designed and pushed a live registration algorithm that utilizes circle detection in real time to model NASA’s overlays

• Improve efficiency and accuracy of the image registration by improving the core algorithm and leveraging most of the computational requirement to the client-side via Web Assembly.

• Points of interest are mapped Moon craters, landing sites, and maria’s. 

• Revamped UI and UX of the website, including a sidebar to choose 10 different overlays to place on the image

Figure 1:

Project Team Roles:

Project Advisors - Jackson Bentley, Jesus Cruz, Youssef El-Zein & Weronika Cwir

  Liaisons - Natalie Gallegos, Shan Malhotra & Syed Sadaqathullah

Live Registration - Gavin Guo

   GUI/Overlays - Isabel Gonzalez, Simon Johansen, Joan Zaldivar

Context Aware - Olga Garcia, Breck Miner, Jacob Valenzuela

Framework - Mike De Pacina, Sebastian Kane & Karl Sia

  (Note: All will contribute to multiple roles)

MoonTrek Development:

• Cesium

• C++

• Python

• Three.js

• Vue

• OpenCV

• Web Assembly

• Express.js