Autonomous Takeoff and Landing Control for Small Size Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The aim of the research was to develop an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) hardware and software which can control a small size UAV (with 1–10 kg takeoff weight) from takeoff to landing. The research was based on AERObot V5 autopilot, developed and tested previously by us. AERObot can control a chosen aerial vehicle on a predefined route and altitude reliably but requires manual takeoff and landing. The speciality of the new takeoff and landing methods is that they do not need any additional RF guidance transmitter, onboard radio/ultrasonic altimeter or special navigation marker points. Using only the existing onboard sensors (GPS, Inertial Measurement Unit – IMU, barometric airspeed meter, barometric altimeter) AERObot can safely take off and land the UAV under the specified weather limitations for the aerial vehicle frame.