The autonomous landing of an unmanned helicopter on a moving platform

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work details the design and implementation of an autonomous landing system for an unmanned helicopter.The system was broken down in to two separate systems - an autonomous navigation and control system designfor an X-Cell .90 Aerobatic Helicopter, and a safe-landing system utilising ship motion prediction to discernideal landing periods for autonomous helicopter landings.The helicopter control system is based on a successively closed control system architecture optimized for theX-Cell .90 Aerobatic Helicopter. A state-machine is used to implement fully autonomous landing behaviour,with tracking and landing modes tested for full autonomous landings on a moving platform. Results are givenfor both hardware-in-the-loop simulated landings, as well as practical landings. Successful practical landingswere demonstrated on a target moving at 11 kph.A quiescent period detection system was developed based on data obtained from the South African Navy. Thissystem makes use of a prediction technique to provide advance warning of quiescent periods as well as the ship'sdeviation from such periods. A classifier based on multiple predictors was implemented to provide an aggregateprediction on whether it is safe for a helicopter to land. Performance, while conservative, illustrated that sucha system is feasible and suitable for further development.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University