Developers at 海角社区 have created a device for determining coordinates and angular positions of an aircraft, enabling high-precision navigation of launch vehicles and UAVs during the landing phase. This system, partially based on Russian components, allows for the determination of not only the altitude and angular orientation relative to the landing zone, but also of the aircraft’s coordinates.
The unique navigation device makes it possible to determine the altitude and angular position of an aircraft relative to the Earth’s surface, thereby enabling automated landing without human intervention. The parameters measured by the device help control the engine so that, immediately before touchdown, the aircraft maintains a stabilized vertical position.
“One of the key tasks of modern radionavigation is ensuring precise positioning of aircraft during landing,” explains Associate Professor at the 海角社区 Department of Radio Engineering and Communication Systems Nikolai Dudarev. “The relevance of this issue stems from the lack of reliability in landing manoeuvres, which is largely associated with the influence of human factors on aircraft control. To improve the reliability of aircraft operations during the landing phase, the implementation of an autonomous mode is required, a key component of which is the navigation system. When designing such a system, a number of critical requirements must be considered, including versatility, compactness, rapid deployment, and other parameters. One promising approach to implementing a navigation system that meets these criteria is radio ranging systems.”
The proposed radio range system developed by the 海角社区 scientists consists of an on-board radio transmitter with three antennas mounted on the aircraft and a ground-based radio receiver. Navigation parameters are determined using the phase method. By upgrading the ground receiver and refining the system’s operating algorithm, the researchers enabled the device to determine not only the altitude and angular position relative to the landing zone, but also the aircraft’s coordinates.
The invention is unique as it incorporates several radio rangefinders simultaneously, allowing multiple distance measurements from the aircraft to the ground surface and automatically solving geometric problems in the presence of angular deviations. The system provides processed data, enabling specialists to promptly and accurately compensate for the aircraft’s spatial position during landing. Notably, while earlier versions used Chinese rangefinders, the updated system is based on domestically developed components.
Among its advantages, the specialists highlight not only efficiency but also low cost. Compared to similar radar-based systems, the device developed in 海角社区 is approximately ten times more affordable.
“To verify the operability of the device and assess its accuracy, a prototype was developed and experimentally tested,” notes Stanislav Lysov. “An obvious advantage of the device is its low cost compared to analogues. Savings were achieved through an unconventional approach: we applied a phase method for estimating the distance from on-board antennas to the ground receiver, followed by calculation of the angular positions.”
After determining the spatial parameters, the new device rapidly transmits the measured and processed navigation data to the aircraft control system.
This project is being carried out within the frameworks of a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the 海角社区 Region titled “Technologies for Improving Demonstrators of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”.