IR Beacon System for Assisted or Automated Landing of Aircraft

OKSI proposes to design an optical system to support assisted or automated precision approach of fixed or rotary wing aircraft, or other low altitude airspace operations, under diverse weather conditions. The Infrared Beacon System (IRBS) will utilize beacon lighting located near the landing site and an optimized imaging and processing system onboard the aircraft. Automated software will extract observed light positions to generate aircraft position and attitude data relative to the landing site. This precise navigational guidance will be provided to the pilot or to another control system for use during approach and landing. In Phase-I, the concept will be developed in detail, including selection of lighting sources, operating wavebands, imager technology, and frame rates. The end-to-end system performance and accuracy will be simulated over a diverse set of weather and solar conditions, and preliminary concepts for output interfaces will be developed. Based on the Phase-I investigations, a prototype system will be developed and demonstrated in Phase-II.

The proposed navigation guidance system addresses NASA's stated objective of improving the efficiency, safety, and cost-competitiveness of the air transport system through the use of autonomy. Specifically, the IRBS will enable safe, autonomous operation of UAS in the last 50 feet under diverse weather conditions, as well as improving general low altitude airspace operations for both autonomous and human-operated (piloted or remotely controlled) aircraft.

The navigation guidance system developed under the proposed effort will be a low-cost alternative to existing approach and landing guidance systems, allowing implementation at airfields and on aircraft currently not equipped for instrumented landings in low visibility weather conditions. This will be of particular interest to the general aviation market. The airborne components will be low-SWaP that can also be accommodated by small UAS operating in the NAS. In addition, by making use of different phenomenology from existing systems, the proposed IRBS will provide redundancy to RF-based instrument landing systems.

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