Autonomous long-range landing using sensor data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016306363-A1
Application number	US-201514825701-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 13, 2015
Priority date	Aug 14, 2014
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of autonomous landing of an aircraft in a landing area includes receiving, with the processor, sensor signals related to the landing area via a sensor device; obtaining, with the processor, a template of the landing area in response to the receiving of the sensor signals; matching, with the processor, one or more features of the template with the features of the acquired images of the landing area; and controlling, with the processor, each of the sensor device and aircraft control system independently based on said matching.

First claim

1 . A method of autonomous landing of an aircraft in a landing area, the method comprising:
receiving, with the processor, sensor signals related to the landing area via a sensor device; obtaining, with the processor, a template of the landing area in response to the receiving of the sensor signals; matching, with the processor, one or more features of the template with the features of the acquired images of the landing area; and controlling, with the processor, each of the sensor device and an aircraft control system independently based on said matching.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a proportional integral controller to control each of the sensor device and the aircraft control system.

3 . The method of claim 2 , controlling a bandwidth of the sensor device at a faster rate than controlling a bandwidth of the aircraft control system.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the sensor device in response to an altitude or distance of the aircraft in relation to the landing area.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the sensor information from one or more of a regular fixed-lens camera, a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera and a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising synthesizing a template of the landing area based on the angle and the distance between the vehicle and the landing area.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting a template from a plurality of stored templates at a plurality of sizes and angles of the landing area.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling pan and tilt of a PTZ camera to put an image of the landing area in a center of field of view of the PTZ camera; and adjusting camera zoom to obtain a constant deck size of the landing area.

9 . A system for autonomous landing of an aircraft on a landing area, the system comprising:
a processor; and memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
receive sensor signals related to the landing area via a sensor device;
obtain a template of the landing area in response to the sensor signals;
match one or more features of the template with the features of the acquired images of the landing area; and
control each of the sensor device and an aircraft control system independently based on said matching.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to use a proportional integral controller to control each of the sensor device and the aircraft control system.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to control a bandwidth of the sensor device at a faster rate than control of a bandwidth of the aircraft control system.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to select the sensor device in response to an altitude or distance of the aircraft in relation to the landing area.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to receive the sensor information from one or more of a regular fixed-lens camera, a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera and a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to synthesize a template of the landing area based on angle and size of the landing area.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to store a plurality of templates at a plurality of sizes and angles of the landing area.

Assignees

• Sikorsky Aircraft Corp

Inventors

• Wang Hongcheng
• Xiong Ziyou
• Finn Alan Matthew
• Stathis Christopher
• Cherepinsky Igor

Classifications

• G01S19/15

  Aircraft landing systems · CPC title

• G01C21/005

  with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching (G01C21/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64C27/04

  Helicopters · CPC title

• G08G5/54

  for approach or landing · CPC title

• G05D1/0684 Primary

  on a moving platform, e.g. aircraft carrier · CPC title