A Visual Guidance and Control Method for Autonomous Landing of a Quadrotor UAV on a Small USV
Ziqing Guo, Jianhua Wang, Xiang Zheng, Yuhang Zhou, Jiaqing Zhang · Drones · 2025
Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) are commonly used as mobile docking stations for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to ensure sustained operational capabilities. Conventional vision-based techniques based on horizontally-placed fiducial markers for autonomous landing are not only susceptible to interference from lighting and shadows but are also restricted by the limited Field of View (FOV) of the visual system. This study proposes a method that integrates an improved minimum snap trajectory planning algorithm with an event-triggered vision-based technique to achieve autonomous landing on a small USV. The trajectory planning algorithm ensures trajectory smoothness and controls deviations from the target flight path, enabling the UAV to approach the USV despite the visual system’s limited FOV. To avoid direct contact between the UAV and the fiducial marker while mitigating the interference from lighting and shadows on the marker, a landing platform with a vertically placed fiducial marker is designed to separate the UAV landing area from the fiducial marker detection region. Additionally, an event-triggered mechanism is used to limit excessive yaw angle adjustment of the UAV to improve its autonomous landing efficiency and stability. Experiments conducted in both terrestrial and river environments demonstrate that the UAV can successfully perform autonomous landing on a small USV in both stationary and moving scenarios.