Large scale realistic virtual environments for lunar robotics testing using real-time computer games engines

Virtual simulation environments are a great tool for testing different rover systems before they are sent to the moon. They allow for perfect repeatability and give abetter idea how specific parameters can impact the overall system. Most current simulators however suffer from low visual fidelity which is problematic for testing the vision sensors needed for autonomous navigation.Additionally, due to technical and practical limitations, most simulations are limited in environment scale. This is problematic for long range navigation testing needed for missions such as the mars sample fetch rover[1]. In order to solve both issues, we turn towards a popular computer game engine,Unreal Engine 4. It allows for larger environments than what is currently possible in robotics simulators such as Gazebo[2]or V-rep[3]. It also addresses the visual fidelity with a range of tools including real-time ray-tracing.The tradeoff is a low physics fidelity, which can be an issue when testing wheel-soil interaction. For our use-case we focus primarily on perception systems needed for rover navigation, such as mono and stereo camera systems, where visual fidelity is more important.