<p>Battery-powered multicopter drones are constrained by limited range and endurance due to the low energy density of onboard batteries. To overcome these limitations, mobile drone stations capable of battery charging and replacement have been introduced. However, achieving precision landings on high-speed mobile stations–especially when they are initially beyond the visual range of the drone’s onboard sensors–remains a significant challenge. To address this, this paper proposes a precision landing approach that enables the drone to reliably land on a high-speed mobile drone station, even when the station initially lies beyond the visual range of the onboard camera. Specifically, we present a multi-sensor-based localization method that leverages the complementary characteristics of the global positioning system, ultra-wideband, and camera vision’s sensory data to robustly estimate the relative position and orientation of the mobile station. We further introduce a dynamically feasible three-phase flight guidance strategy that aligns the drone’s motion with the station’s velocity, ensuring smooth and accurate landings. Building upon this, to support the proposed method, we design a dedicated hardware configuration for both the drone and the mobile station. We validate our approach through real-world flight experiments, demonstrating consistent and successful landings on a mobile drone station traveling at speeds up to 25&#xa0;km/h and starting from distances exceeding 20&#xa0;m.</p>

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Multi-Sensor-Based Long-Range Precision Landing on a High-Speed Mobile Drone Station

  • Joohyuk Lee,
  • Hyeonjeong Heo,
  • Hojun Lee,
  • Kyuman Lee

摘要

Battery-powered multicopter drones are constrained by limited range and endurance due to the low energy density of onboard batteries. To overcome these limitations, mobile drone stations capable of battery charging and replacement have been introduced. However, achieving precision landings on high-speed mobile stations–especially when they are initially beyond the visual range of the drone’s onboard sensors–remains a significant challenge. To address this, this paper proposes a precision landing approach that enables the drone to reliably land on a high-speed mobile drone station, even when the station initially lies beyond the visual range of the onboard camera. Specifically, we present a multi-sensor-based localization method that leverages the complementary characteristics of the global positioning system, ultra-wideband, and camera vision’s sensory data to robustly estimate the relative position and orientation of the mobile station. We further introduce a dynamically feasible three-phase flight guidance strategy that aligns the drone’s motion with the station’s velocity, ensuring smooth and accurate landings. Building upon this, to support the proposed method, we design a dedicated hardware configuration for both the drone and the mobile station. We validate our approach through real-world flight experiments, demonstrating consistent and successful landings on a mobile drone station traveling at speeds up to 25 km/h and starting from distances exceeding 20 m.