Safe Landing Area Determination (SLAD) for Unmanned Aircraft Systems by using rotary LiDAR

The use of Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV), or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), is constantly growing, thanks to their versatility, flexibility of use, low cost and capability of reuse, even in environments that are very dangerous or impossible for the human. UAVs are mostly used during various operation tasks (military, scientific or civil), as search and rescue, disaster assessment, urban traffic monitoring, war zone defense monitoring, 3D mapping, archaeological site prospection, delivery of small packages and others. Estimation of features around the flight path and surveillance of areas where there is a high number of vehicles are of extreme importance for typical UAV missions. This paper focuses on a system capable of monitoring crowded areas or impervious sites, identifying a safety area for appropriate vertical landing or takeoff maneuver of the UAV with a high level of accuracy and robustness, even without using GNSS-derived navigation information, and with on-board terrain hazard detection and avoidance (DAA) capabilities. We propose a support control system for vertiport airspace design that must precede practical operations in the framework of urban air mobility (UAM). The system is composed by a mechanically rotating real-time LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor, used for perception and localization (ranging) of obstacles in a surveillance volume, linked to a Raspberry Pi 3 as SBC (Session Board Controller), and interfaced to a GCS (Ground Control Station) by wireless connection for data management and 3D information transfer.

Automated summary

The use of UAVs is increasing due to their versatility, flexibility, and low cost. The system proposed in the paper utilizes a LiDAR sensor, Raspberry Pi 3, and Ground Control Station for precise monitoring and control in complex environments. This support control system is essential for practical operations in urban air mobility framework.