Applied Physics and Mathematics Annotation << Back MOTION CONTROL OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE USING OPTICAL BEACONS V.G. REUTOV, D.A. SHELOMANOV The method of control unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), to solve various problems of monitoring the Earth’s surface to assess the condition of natural and man-made objects. The proposed method allows for autonomous flight of the UAV on a given route within a certain area, for example, a particular forest, pond, city etc., with the operator only during takeoff and landing. The implementation of such a regime is achieved using optical beacons – radiation sources located along the perimeter of the considered areas of the earth, and opto-electronic system, located on board the UAV and shall identify the received signals to specific sources of radiation and measuring the angular position of beacons associated with the UAV system coordinates. Reduction of estimation errors of coordinates and rotation angles of the body of the UAV can be achieved by increasing the number of beacons and the introduction of optimal filtration of the resulting estimates of coordinates and rotation angles of UAV using UAV motion model. Considered control method is illustrated by an example of mathematical modeling of the evaluation process of coordinates and rotation angles of UAV body moving along a predetermined path in the area, which are located 8 optical beacons on the periphery. Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, monitoring the Earth’s surface, the optical beacons, motion control. Contacts: E-mail: sheloman@rambler.ru Pp. 07-11.