High-Precision Aircraft Guidance System Based on Dual-Optical Frequency Combs: Accurate Autonomous Landing of Drones

A high-precision relative navigation system with applications in the aerospace industry is proposed and validated for the accurate autonomous landing of drones. It relays on the generation of an optical grid from two dual optical comb generators that projects that grid into space where an object, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, detects its relative position related to the origin of the grid to aid in the high resolution obtaining of the positioning and subsequent guidance of the object. A prototype of the proposed system has been developed, characterized, and tested in a highly relevant environment. The results of flight tests using the proposed system for the high-precision relative positioning of a drone are also presented.