Dynamic Landing of UAV on UGV Platform: A Visual-Only Approach with Adaptive Control
Yian Zhu, Qishen Zhong, Jian Yang, Lidong Zhang, Xinwei Wu · 2025
This study proposes an autonomous landing method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using only visual perception. It enables the UAV to land on a limited-size platform mounted on a moving Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV). A multi-scale binary code is used to estimate the position and velocity of the UGV. During the tracking phase, the gimbal is employed to track the landing platform, while a parameter-adaptive nonlinear model predictive control (PANMPC) algorithm is designed to plan the velocity of UAV to approach the platform. In the landing phase, we design a hybrid proportional control law which is tuned according to the position and velocity of the target to guide the UAV to land on the platform. Finally, the proposed algorithm is validated in Gazebo simulations and the real-world scenario.