Real-Time HDR-Rendering for Simulated TV-Graphics of Rendezvous and Docking in Astronaut Training

Real-time human visual system(HVS)-based high dynamic range(HDR) rendering technology provides high fidelity, and therefore can be used in the simulated TV-graphics for the astronaut rendezvous and docking(RVD) training. In this paper, first, according to the characteristics of the real video recorded from outer space in RVD mission, we analyzed key HDR rendering techniques used in the simulated RVD scene for real-time astronaut's training. Then, based on the distance between two spacecraft, we employed three tone mapping operators(TMO), the S-curve algorithm, the adaptive logarithmic algorithm and the Reinhard algorithm to reproduce the tone of the RVD scene at the far distance, the middle distance and the near distance respectively. To ensure the real-time computation, we improved the adaptive logarithmic algorithm and the Reinhard algorithm, and accelerated them by GPUs. By comparing the simulated RVD scene with the real video recorded from outer space in RVD mission, our distance-based method has a high fidelity, and supports the astronaut RVD training.