Powerline perching with a fixed-wing UAV

The ability to land on a powerline to recharge will dramatically enhance the endurance and therefore mission capabilities for small UAVs. The magnetic fields around these powerlines have a well known structure. In this paper we evaluate the possibility of using onboard magnetometers, in combination with an inertial measurement unit and dynamic model of the aircraft, to localize the vehicle relative to the powerline. Specifically, we investigate the near-field structure of a dipole magnetic field configuration and demonstrate that state estimation using particle filters can provide sufficiently accurate, high-bandwidth, and lowlatency estimates to be compatible with aggressive near-field maneuvering by the aircraft to acquire to perch on the line.

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