The ship-deck platform is a PS-6TL-1500 platform from Motion Systems with a 5- by 5-ft. landing area and the ability to carry 1.5 tons of payload. It provides +/- 1.3 ft. of oscillation at 0.1–10 Hz and 1.5 ft./sec., with angular rates of up to 35 degrees at 38 degrees/sec.
Arbitrary motions can be specified, including stochastic motions encountered by small naval destroyers at sea state 7, as well as the higher-frequency motions of land vehicles.
Maryland's ship-deck platform facility consists of:
- The platform and controller
- A VICON tracking system
- A 40-ft high indoor netted flight area
- A 1,000 sq. ft. fabrication and assembly space
- A netted area with a VICON tracking system
Drones fabricated in-house with various monocular and stereo camera systems are tested for autonomous landing using 2D- and 3D-feature-based vision under degraded visibility, without reliance on GPS, lidar, or equipment on the deck.
Above: DDG-51 ship deck model (left) and a 3D feature extraction (right).