Visual Servoing Approach for Autonomous UAV Landing on a Moving Vehicle

TL;DR

This paper introduces a visual servoing control method enabling autonomous UAV landings on moving vehicles without external setups, demonstrating fast, reliable approach and landing in various environments using minimal hardware.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel visual servoing approach that directly computes velocity commands in image space for UAV landing on moving platforms, eliminating the need for external localization systems.

Findings

Successfully landed on moving decks in simulation, indoor, and outdoor environments.

Achieved the fastest approach compared to existing methods.

Operates with minimal hardware and no external localization systems.

Abstract

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.