Landing site localization for dynamic control of an aircraft toward a landing site

A method for landing site localization, the method comprising:

• receiving an image capturing a landing site from a field of view of an aircraft;
• determining a reference position of a reference object associated with the landing site;
• from the reference position, generating an image-estimated pose of the aircraft;
• updating a pose trajectory of the aircraft upon processing the image-estimated pose and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) output from an IMU coupled to the aircraft, the IMU output having a time stamp corresponding to the image;
• and
• based upon the pose trajectory, generating a set of computer-readable instructions for flight control of the aircraft toward a flight path to the landing site.

A system for landing site localization, the system comprising:

• a camera subsystem mounted to an aircraft with a field of view of a flight path of the aircraft;
• an inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted to the aircraft;
• a data transmission subsystem in communication with the camera subsystem and the IMU;
• and
• a computing system comprising machine-readable instructions in non-transitory media for:
• transmitting, from the data transmission subsystem to a component of the computing system remote from the aircraft, an image taken from the camera subsystem and capturing a landing site,
• receiving, at the component, a reference position of a reference object associated with the landing site within the image,
• from the reference position, generating an image-estimated pose of the aircraft,
• updating a pose trajectory of the aircraft upon processing the image-estimated pose and an output from the IMU having a time stamp corresponding to the image;
• and
• based upon the pose trajectory, generating a set of instructions for flight control of the aircraft toward a flight path to the landing site.