Hardware-Accelerated Instance Segmentation for Resource-Constrained Space Robotics with Criticality Analysis

Abstract:Autonomous lunar missions require real-time per- ception under three coupled constraints: extreme low-light conditions, limited onboard compute, and radiation-induced hardware faults that can silently corrupt inference. We present a deployment-oriented instance segmentation framework for resource-constrained lunar robotics that jointly addresses quan- tization calibration and system-level fault exposure under strict compute constraints. First, we introduce Activation Variance Informative Sampling (AVIS), a label-free calibration strategy that deterministically selects calibration samples based on activation variance statistics. Second, we deploy a YOLO-based segmentation model on a Deep Learning Processor Unit (DPU) with architectural modifications that reduce CPU fallback paths and enable statically compiled execution with bounded latency in low-lighting conditions. We further introduce a software-level criticality analysis to estimate fault exposure and guide mitigation under radiation-constrained operation. On a lunar micro-rover platform, AVIS with bias correction recovers 69.8% of quantization-induced accuracy loss while achieving 309 ms inference latency and 5.7 W power consumption. Targeted mitigation reduces global criticality by 31.7%. The results demonstrate an integrated approach and a blueprint for a reliable and safe AI perception framework under space deployment constraints.

Robotics (cs.RO); Hardware Architecture (cs.AR); Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV); Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2609.02219 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2609.02219v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.02219 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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