Visual Servoing Approach for Autonomous UAV Landing on a Moving Vehicle
This addresses the problem of enabling UAVs to land on moving platforms like delivery trucks for applications such as logistics and marine research, representing an incremental improvement in efficiency and hardware simplicity.
The paper tackles autonomous landing of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on a moving vehicle using a visual servoing controller that calculates velocity commands directly in image space, achieving the fastest landing approach in simulations and real-world tests without relying on external setups.
Many aerial robotic applications require the ability to land on moving platforms, such as delivery trucks and marine research boats. We present a method to autonomously land an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on a moving vehicle. A visual servoing controller approaches the ground vehicle using velocity commands calculated directly in image space. The control laws generate velocity commands in all three dimensions, eliminating the need for a separate height controller. The method has shown the ability to approach and land on the moving deck in simulation, indoor and outdoor environments, and compared to the other available methods, it has provided the fastest landing approach. Unlike many existing methods for landing on fast-moving platforms, this method does not rely on additional external setups, such as RTK, motion capture system, ground station, offboard processing, or communication with the vehicle, and it requires only the minimal set of hardware and localization sensors. The videos and source codes are also provided.