Development of an Automated Camera-Based Drone Landing System

Digital image processing serves as a multifunctional tool for measurement and positioning tasks in robotics. The present paper deals with the development of a camera-based positioning system for quadrocopters in order to automate their landing process. In this regard, a quadrocopter equipped with cl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE access Vol. 8; pp. 202111 - 202121
Main Authors Demirhan, Malik, Premachandra, Chinthaka
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Piscataway IEEE 2020
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects
Algorithms
Altitude control
Anti-windup
Attitude control
Automation
Autonomous drone
Cameras
Closed loops
control engineering
Controllers
Digital imaging
Flight control systems
Hardware
Image processing
landing
Landing aids
PID
Pole placement
Position control
Position sensing
Proportional integral derivative
quadrocopter
Radio control
region of interest
Robotics
System identification
Upgrading
wide angle camera
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Summary:Digital image processing serves as a multifunctional tool for measurement and positioning tasks in robotics. The present paper deals with the development of a camera-based positioning system for quadrocopters in order to automate their landing process. In this regard, a quadrocopter equipped with classical radio-control components is upgraded with applicable hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and a wide-angle camera. Hereupon, black-box system identifications are executed to attain the relevant plants of the attitude control performed by the flight controller. Thereby, a PID-controller for the altitude control including a back-calculation anti-windup as well as two PD-controllers for the horizontal plane are designed using a pole placement method. Effective tests of the controller gains are conducted by simulating the closed loops respectively. Since the camera functions as a position sensor, an image processing algorithm is then implemented to detect a distinctive landing symbol in real time while converting its image position into compliant feedback errors (pixel-to-physical distance-conversion). Ultimately, the developed system allows for the robust detection and successful landing on the landing spot by a position control operating at 20 hertz.
ISSN:2169-3536
2169-3536
DOI:10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3034948