Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Airborne Vision-Based Navigation Method for UAV Accuracy Landing Using Infrared Lamps

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, an airborne vision-based navigation method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) accuracy landing is presented. In this method, a visible light camera integrated with a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) processor is installed on the UAV and a 940 nm optical filter is fixed in front of the camera lens. In addition, four infrared light-emitting diode (LED) lamps whose emission wavelengths are 940 nm are placed behind ideal landing site on the runway. In this way, the infrared lamps in the image are distinct even if the image background is complicated. In the image processing procedure, firstly maximum between-class variance algorithm and region growing algorithm are used to determine candidate infrared lamp regions in the images. Then Negative Laplacian of Gaussian (NLOG) operator is applied to detect and track centers of the infrared lamps in the images. The space position and attitude of the camera can be obtained according to the corresponding relationship between image coordinates and space coordinates of the infrared lamp centers. Finally, high precision space position of the UAV can be calculated according to the installation relationship between the camera and the UAV. Plenty of real flight and static precision experiments have proved the validity and accuracy of the proposed method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Zhang, J.J., Yuan, H.: Analysis of unmanned aerial vehicle navigation and height control system based on GPS. J. Syst. Eng. Electron. 21(4), 643–649 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Koifman, M., Bar-Itzhack, I.: Inertial navigation system aided by aircraft dynamics. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 7(4), 487–493 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Langel, S.E., Khanafseh, S.M., Chan, F.C., Pervan, B.S.: Cycle ambiguity reacquisition in UAV applications using a novel GPS/INS integration algorithm. In: Proceedings of the 2009 International Technical Meeting of the Institute of Navigation, pp. 1026–1037. Anaheim, CA, USA (2009)

  4. Cho, A., Kim, J., Lee, S., Choi, S., Lee, B., Kim, B., Park, N., Kim, D., Kee, C.: Fully automatic taxiing, takeoff and landing of a UAV using a single-antenna GPS receiver only. In: 2007 International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems, pp. 2485–2489. Seoul, South Korea (2007)

  5. Vasconcelos, J.F., Silvestre, C., Oliveira, P., Guerreiro, B.: Embedded UAV model and laser aiding techniques for inertial navigation systems. Control. Eng. Pract. 18(3), 262–278 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hsiao, F.B., Huang, S.H., Lee, M.T.: The study of real-timed GPS navigation accuracy during approach and landing of an ultralight vehicle. In: International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies, pp. 375–384. Istanbul, Turkey (2003)

  7. Britting, K.R.: Inertial Navigation Systems Analysis. Artech House Publishers, London (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Courbon, J., Mezouar, Y., Guenard, N., Martinet, P.: Vision-based navigation of unmanned aerial vehicles. Control Eng. Pract. 18(7), 789–799 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Weiss, S., Scaramuzza, D., Siegwart, R.: Monocular-SLAM-based navigation for autonomous micro helicopters in GPS-denied environments. J. Filed Robot. 28(6), 854–874 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Xu, G.L., Zhang, Y., Ji, S.Y., Cheng, Y.H., Tian, Y.P.: Research on computer vision-based for UAV autonomous landing on a ship. Pattern Recogn. Lett. 30(6), 600–605 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Azinheira, J.R., Rivers, P.: Image-based visual servoing for vanishing features and ground lines tracking: application to a UAV automatic landing. Int. J. Optomechatronics. 2(3), 275–295 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kehoe, J.J., Causey, R.S., Abdulrahim, M., Lind, R.: Waypoint navigation for a micro air vehicle using vision-based attitude estimation. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit, pp. 821–829 (2005)

  13. Shang, J.J., Shi, Z.K.: Vision-based runway recognition for UAV autonomous landing. Int. J. Comput. Sci. Netw. Secur. 7(3), 112–117 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Soni, T., Sridhar, B.: Modeling issues in vision based aircraft navigation during landing. In: Proceedings of the Second IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision, pp. 89–96 (1994)

  15. Etinger, S.M., Nechyba, M.C.: Vision-guided flight stability and control for micro air vehicles. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots Systems, pp. 2134–2140 (2002)

  16. Li, H., Zhao, H.Y., Peng, J.X.: Application of cubic spline in navigation for aircraft landing. J. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Tech. Nat. Sci. Ed. 34(6), 22–24 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Xu, G.L., Cheng, Y.H., Shen, C.L.: Unmanned air vehicle navigation and automatic accurate landing in all weather based on infrared laser scan and computer vision. Acta Aeronaut. Astronaut. Sin. 25(5), 499–503 (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  18. Cesetti, A., Frontoni, E., Mancini, A., Zingaretti, P., Longhi, S.: A vision-based guidance system for UAV navigation and safe landing using natural landmarks. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 57(1–4), 233–257 (2010)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Huh, S., Shim, D.H.: A vision-based automatic landing method for fixed-wing UAVs. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 57(1–4), 217–231 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Barber, B., McLain, T., Edwards, B.: Vision-based landing of fixed-wing miniature air vehicles. In: AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference and Exhibit (2007)

  21. Martinez, C., Mondragon, I.F., Olivares-Mendez, M.A., Campoy, P.: On-board and ground visual pose estimation techniques for UAV control. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 61(1–4), 301–320 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Kelly, J., Saripalli, S., Sukhatme, G.S.: Combined visual and inertial navigation for an unmanned aerial vehicle. In: International Conference on Field and Service Robotics. Chamonix, France (2007)

  23. Garcia Carrillo, L.R., Dzul Lopez, A.E., Lozano, R., Pegard, C.: Combining stereo vision and inertial navigation system for a quad-rotor UAV. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 65(1–4), 373–387 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Sahoo, P.K., Soltani, S., Wong, A.K., Chen, Y.C.: A survey of thresholding techniques. Comput. Vis. Graph. Image Process. 41(2), 233–260 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Steven, W.Z.: Region growing: childhood and adolescence. Comput. Graph. Image Process. 5(3), 382–399 (1976)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Adams, R., Bischof, L.: Seeded region growing. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 16(6), 641–647 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Marr, D., Hildreth, E.: Theory of edge detection. In: Proceedings of Royal Society. London, UK (1980)

  28. Leventhal, A.G.: The Neural Basis of Visual Fuction: Vision and Visual Dysfunction. CRC Press, Boca Raton (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Itti, L., Koch, C., Niebur, E.: A model of saliency-based visual attention for rapid scene analysis. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 20(11), 1254–1259 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Zhou, X.: The research of satellite real-time detection method based on moving flat. Master Degree Thesis, Natl. Univ. Def. Tech (2007)

  31. Shang, Y.: Researches on vision-based pose measurements for space targets. Ph.D. Thesis, Natl. Univ. Def. Tech (2006)

  32. Lu, C., Hager, G.D., Mjolsness, E.: Fast and globally convergent pose estimation from video images. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 22(6), 610–622 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Horn, B.K.P., Hilden, H.M., Negahdaripour, S.: Closed-form solution of absolute orientation using orthonormal matrices. J. Opt. Soc. Am., A. 5(7), 1127–1135 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  34. Liu, L.S.: Post-Flight Data Processing of Trajectory Measurement. National Defense Industry Press, Beijing (2000)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Military Aerospace, College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Gui, Pengyu Guo, Hongliang Zhang, Zhihui Lei, Xiang Zhou & Qifeng Yu

  2. Hunan Key Laboratory for Image Measurement and Vision Navigation, Changsha, 410073, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Gui, Pengyu Guo, Hongliang Zhang, Zhihui Lei, Xiang Zhou, Jing Du & Qifeng Yu

  3. College of Computer, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Du

Authors
  1. Yang Gui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pengyu Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hongliang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhihui Lei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xiang Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jing Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Qifeng Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yang Gui.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gui, Y., Guo, P., Zhang, H. et al. Airborne Vision-Based Navigation Method for UAV Accuracy Landing Using Infrared Lamps. J Intell Robot Syst 72, 197–218 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-013-9819-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-013-9819-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation