An Inclination Estimation Method for UAV Landing Surfaces Using Millimeter Wave Radar

Tatsuya Iizuka, Takuya Sasatani, Toru Nakamura, Naoko Kosaka, Masaki Hisada, and Yoshihiro Kawahara

Abstract

This paper investigates a novel millimeter wave (mmWave) radar-based inclination estimation to enhance the landing capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in poor visibility conditions. Unlike SAR based approaches, this method facilitates one-shot estimation by using known reflector patterns on landing surfaces. As a first step, we evaluate the performance of the estimation with obtained distance information, assuming that the coordinates of the UAV and port are known. The experimental results demonstrate that mmWave radar with centimeter-ordered resolution can estimate the inclination of less than 5° errors.

2023 IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (IEEE IGARSS)

Published: July 2023

Pages: 2049 - 2052

City: Pasadena, CA, USA