Nonlinear Image-Based Visual Servo Controller for the Flare Maneuver of Fixed-Wing Aircraft Using Optical Flow

This paper proposes a nonlinear image-based visual servo controller for the flare phase of the landing maneuver of a fixed-wing aircraft in the presence of wind disturbances. Optical flow and 2-D image features from the image of the runway are exploited to design a feedback controller for the automatic maneuver. The controller is divided in two components. The first component guarantees the horizontal alignment of the aircraft with respect to the runway by exploiting the Plücker coordinates of the lines that delimit the runway as visual features. The second component takes advantage of the optical flow measurements to ensure a smooth touchdown. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the control approach.