Publications
2025¶
Infrared-Constellation-Aided Landing of eVTOL Aircraft¶
This paper presents an active fiducial light pattern localization (AFLPL) system to aid the navigation of an eVTOL aircraft during landing without reliance on GPS. AFLPL utilizes a constellation of active fiducial IR lights arranged to enable localization of the aircraft using an onboard IR camera and algorithms for detection, data association, and pose estimation. In experimental tests conducted onboard a multirotor aircraft, the AFLPL system achieved pose estimates at a rate of 33 Hz, with ranges extending up to 200 m and accuracies ranging from 2 to 3 m, down to decimeter-level accuracy at ranges under 40 m. When fused with IMU measurements through an extended Kalman filter (EKF), pose estimates were produced at 200 Hz, with accuracies under 1 m at larger ranges down to sub-decimeter precision at ranges below 40 m. Using pose estimates from the AFLPL-based EKF in a position-feedback loop, accurate tracking of glide-slope landing trajectory by a multirotor aircraft was demonstrated.
External Lists¶
Dr. Tim McLain
Dr. Randy Beard
Dr. Cammy Peterson
Dr. James Usevitch