Packages delivery based on marker detection for UAVs

Intelligent UAVs have great application prospects in the express delivery industry. However, efficient environmental awareness and self-control capabilities are must-have for UAVs. In order to solve this, this paper design an efficient delivery system combined with marker detection, which improve the delivery and landing accuracy. In this system, the embedded platform as upper-computer carries out the task of delivery marker detection and trajectory planning, the underlying flight controller completes the UAV attitude control, motion control and data interaction through communication protocol. Besides, the embedded platform simultaneously accomplishes the control commands to UAVs based on Robot Operating System (ROS) distributed architecture, which can be quickly transplanted and deployed. Aiming at the system’s visual perception problem, this paper proposes a color detection algorithm based on color channel ratio to detect the markers’ color quickly. The experiment used different colors of "mailbox" as the receiving device on the ground to guide UAV to package delivery. The UAVs carry the packages and search for the mailbox independently, and finally control the delivery servo to release package. After the delivery completed, the UAVs return to the take-off location and start the visual landing in conjunction with the detection of the landmark. Experimental results show that the proposed package delivery system can perform tasks quickly and efficiently.