Autonomous landing of multicopters on mobile platforms : Design of an autonomous landing solution for multicopters on mobile platforms, based on a ultrasonic local positionning technology

Abstract: This work studies the use of an ultrasonic 3D positioning system in multicopter landing applications. Its aim is to develop a solution for autonomous landing of rotary wings systems on mobile platforms, especially boat decks using the positioning system developed by the French startup Internest. First, the position sensing algorithms will be improved so as to let them provide accurate relative position measurements in moving reference frames. Then a first implementation of a control algorithm based on PIDs will be considered, discussed and tested. Finally some improvements will be studied, with the use of trajectory planning and feedforward control, as well as the definition of a reference model. The whole work is led in an industrial R&D context, with the aim of developing simple but effective solutions that can easily be used in numerous applications, on a large variety of systems.