Researchers at the Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, have developed a groundbreaking technology that promises to usher in a new era of drone operations. The Indian Patent Office, Intellectual Property India, has granted a patent for an airborne-based intelligent autonomous landing system for mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which can accurately identify landing site locations from multiple images captured.
Professor K. Senthil Kumar, Director of the Dr. Kalam Advanced UAV Research Centre at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT, explained that this technology would be invaluable for delivering and picking up loads such as weapons, ammunition, medicines, and food to armed forces deployed in hilly or inaccessible border areas.
Unlike existing UAVs designed to land on predetermined, well-prepared flat surfaces, the system developed by his research team can precisely locate a marker, such as a specific colored item, and land safely even on uneven, sloped terrains. Once the landing site is identified, the UAV obtains the position coordinates and lands on the target, including moving platforms. The system’s reliability can be further enhanced by using QR codes. The landing process is completely autonomous, utilising AI and deep learning algorithms, which increases efficiency and reduces landing time. This system is particularly beneficial for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) applications.
Dr. Senthil Kumar highlighted that this UAV landing system could be a game-changer for high-altitude logistics drones, aiding armed and border security forces in delivering essential supplies to border posts, conducting emergency relief and rescue operations, and supporting combat missions. The UAVs developed under this technology can currently carry loads of up to 50 kg over a distance of 20 km, with ongoing efforts to increase the load capacity to 100 kg and the range to 50 km.
In addition to defence applications, the intelligent autonomous landing system for mini-UAVs could also be employed in civilian missions, such as delivering organs and medicines in healthcare, or products in e-commerce. Dr. Senthil Kumar emphasised that this invention represents a major breakthrough in drone technology, with the potential to revolutionise package delivery, moving beyond the traditional methods of airdropping from specific altitudes.
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