Compact Docking Station for Sub-150g UAV Indoor Precise Landing

To be used at their full potential, sub-150g drones need to to be integrated in a "foolproof" deployment system, from take-off to landing. In this paper, we introduce a compact (less than <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">15× 15</tex> cm) docking station that could fit in a suitcase. To achieve accurate drone localization, we evaluated various systems (OptiTrack Duo/Trio, Bitcraze's radio-based system) and found that a vertically mounted lighthouse sensor from the HTC Vive system offers a few centimeters of accuracy while being significantly smaller than multi-camera systems. Our final docking station design incorporates this sensor, along with an actuated landing pad that retracts from the sensor's field of view during landing. This novel landing system paves the way for the use of small indoor drones by professionals without the need for extensive drone training.