To achieve more accurate navigation performance in the landing process, a multi-resolution visual positioning technique is proposed for landing assistance of an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). This technique uses a captured image of an artificial landmark (e.g. barcode) to provide relative positioning information in the X, Y and Z axes, and yaw, roll and pitch orientations. A multi-resolution coding algorithm is designed to ensure the UAS will not lose the detection of the landing target due to limited visual angles or camera resolution. Simulation and real world experiments prove the performance of the proposed technique in positioning accuracy, detection accuracy, and navigation effect. Two types of UAS are used to verify the generalisation of the proposed technique. Comparison experiments to state-of-the-art techniques are also included with the results analysis.
