System integration of a vision-guided UAV for autonomous landing on moving platform

Abstract

This manuscript describes a UAV implemented with vision and laser based localization algorithm to track and land on a moving platform. Specifically, a pre-designed marker is installed on the moving platform and a downward facing monocular camera is mounted on the UAV for pose estimation. For a robust and precise UAV height estimation, a LiDAR scanning range finder is utilized to determine accurate height and to estimate descent velocity during landing. The proposed algorithm is realized in a quadrotor UAV and its performance is validated in actual flight experiments.