OPTICALLY ASSISTED LANDING OF AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED AIRCRAFT

摘要

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and landing platforms are provided for visual and/or ground-based landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. The unmanned aerial vehicles may be capable of autonomously landing. Autonomous landings may be achieved by the unmanned air vehicles with the use of an imager and one or more optical markers on a landing platform. The optical markers may be rectilinear, monochromatic patterns that may be detected by a computing system on the unmanned aerial vehicle. Furthermore, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be able to automatically land by detecting one or more optical markers and calculating a relative location and/or orientation from the landing platform.

主权项

1. A landing system comprising:
a landing platform comprising first and second optical markers, wherein the first optical marker is larger than the second optical marker; an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:
an electronic camera; anda hardware processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions to at least:
access a first image captured by the electronic camera, wherein the first image is of the first optical marker;determine a first position of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the first optical marker based at least in part on the accessed first image;cause a change in altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the determined first position;access a second image captured by the electronic camera, wherein the second image is of the second optical marker;determine a second position of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the second optical marker based at least in part on the accessed second image; andcause a further change in altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the determined second position.