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Oct-tree terrain modelling methods for terrain reference navigation systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

D. J. Allerton  and
M. C. Gia
D. J. Allerton
Affiliation:
Department of AvionicsCollege of AeronauticsCranfield University, UK
M. C. Gia
Affiliation:
Department of AvionicsCollege of AeronauticsCranfield University, UK
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Abstract

This paper describes the use of oct-trees to represent digitised terrain elevation data (DTED) in terrain reference navigation (TRN) systems. Oct-trees provide a regular method to represent digitised terrain data where the level of detail of the terrain is encoded in the tree structure. The use of oct-trees also provides a basis for a significant reduction in the on-line storage requirement for DT-EDs. A method of encoding using Morton ordering is introduced which allows DTEDs to be accessed as oct-trees and quad-trees where the tree structures are represented as pointerless structures. Algorithms to construct and access terrain oct-trees are presented which form a set of access primitives for tree operations required in TRN applications. The paper concludes with examples to illustrate the efficiency of the methods described in the paper for two DTEDs, in terms of performance of the tree access operations and reductions in storage.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 100 , Issue 995 , May 1996 , pp. 157 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1996 

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