Autonomously landing an unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

• a main body;
• a plurality of rotors positioned about the main body to power the movement of the UAV while in flight;
• one or more sensors capable of detecting an energy field;
• and
• a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and the plurality of rotors, wherein the computing device:
• receives input from the one or more sensors representative of a detected energy field emitted from a ground station, wherein the energy field comprises light energy waves transmitted from at least two light emitting sources located on the ground station;
• determines one or more characteristics of the detected energy field;
• and
• based on the one or more characteristics of the detected energy field, provides a control output to one or more of the plurality of rotors to guide the movement of the UAV onto a landing site of the ground station.

A system for landing an aerial vehicle, comprising:

• a ground unit, comprising:
• a landing site having a recess;
• and
• one or more energy transmitters that produce an energy field extending upward from the landing site, wherein the energy field comprises light energy waves transmitted from at least two light emitting sources located on the ground unit;
• an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
• a landing base that geometrically corresponds to the recess of the landing site;
• one or more sensors capable of detecting the energy field produced from the one or more energy transmitters of the ground unit;
• and
• a computing device communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors, wherein the computing device:
• receives input from the one or more sensors related to the energy field;
• determines one or more characteristics of the energy field based on the received input;
• and
• based on the one or more characteristics of the detected energy field, provides a control output to guide the movement of the UAV into the recess of the landing site.