Autonomous landing systems and methods for vertical landing aircraft
AssigneeThe Texas A&M University System
InventorsBochan Lee, Moble Benedict
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An autonomous landing system for vertical landing aircraft includes a vertical landing aircraft including a powertrain and an onboard camera, a motion-stabilized visual cue including a visual indicator, wherein the visual cue is configured to maintain a fixed orientation of the visual indicator with respect to a horizon, and an autonomous control system configured to control a position of the aircraft with respect to the visual indicator of the visual cue based on image data captured by the onboard camera.
Claims20
An autonomous landing system for landing a vertical landing aircraft on a landing platform, comprising:
- a vertical landing aircraft comprising a powertrain and an onboard camera;
- a visual cue motion-stabilized relative to the landing platform and comprising a visual indicator located on a horizontally extending surface of the visual cue whereby the visual indicator extends vertically across a horizon, wherein the visual cue is configured to maintain a fixed orientation of the visual indicator with respect to the horizon;
- and
- an autonomous control system configured to:
- control a position of the aircraft with respect to the visual indicator of the visual cue to maneuver the aircraft into a hovering, predefined landing position vertically above the landing platform, the predefined landing position being horizontally spaced from the visual indicator and horizontally aligned with the landing platform;
- and
- reduce a vertical thrust generated by the powertrain in response to the aircraft entering the landing position to cause the aircraft to descend vertically from the landing position and land on the landing platform at a location that is spaced from the visual cue based on image data captured by the onboard camera.
A method for autonomously landing a vertical landing aircraft on a landing platform, comprising:
- (a) identifying a visual indicator based on image data captured by an onboard camera of the aircraft, wherein the visual indicator is located on a horizontally extending surface of the visual cue whereby the visual indicator extends vertically across a horizon, and wherein the visual cue is motion-stabilized relative to the landing platform and configured to maintain a fixed orientation of a visual indicator of the visual cue relative to the horizon;
- (b) controlling a position of the aircraft relative to the visual indicator by an autonomous control system to maneuver the aircraft into a predefined landing position vertically above the landing platform, the predefined landing position being horizontally spaced from the visual indicator and horizontally aligned with the landing platform;
- and
- (c) reducing by the control system a vertical thrust generated by a powertrain of the aircraft in response to the aircraft entering the landing position to cause the aircraft to descend vertically from the landing position and land onto the landing platform at a location that is spaced from the visual cue.
An autonomous landing system for landing a vertical landing aircraft on a landing platform, the system comprising:
- a processor;
- a storage device coupled to the processor and containing instructions that when executed cause the processor to:
- control a position of the aircraft relative to a visual indicator of a visual cue motion-stabilized relative to the landing platform to maneuver the aircraft into a predefined landing position vertically above the landing platform the predefined landing position being horizontally spaced from the visual indicator and horizontally aligned with the landing platform, wherein the visual indicator is located on a horizontally extending surface of the visual cue whereby the visual indicator extends vertically across a horizon;
- and
- reduce a vertical thrust generated by a powertrain of the aircraft in response to the aircraft entering the landing position to cause the aircraft to descend vertically from the landing position and land on the landing platform at a location that is spaced from the visual cue based on image data captured by an onboard camera of the aircraft, wherein the visual cue is configured to maintain a fixed orientation of the visual indicator with respect to the horizon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.