A six-port-based tracking system for automated landing of fixed-wing UAVs

This contribution presents a measurement system for tracking fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) during gear-less landing on automated, mobile, and rail-based runways. It relies on a transmitter located in the UAV and six-port based angle-of-Arrival measurements. A demonstrator operating in the 2 4-G H z Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band is designed, manufactured, and characterized. It guarantees a precision better than one degree, and up to 0.02 degree in optimal conditions as well as real-Time capabilities with 500 samples per second. A real-world proof-of-concept experiment validates the approach.