Development of an Unmanned Aerial System for Radio Frequency Source Localization
Date
2023-03
Authors
Poudel, Keshav
Regmi, Prabhav
Parajuli, Sandesh
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
I.O.E. Pulchowk Campus
Abstract
Radio-based direction finding is an old concept for manned aircraft where a pilot manually
flies towards the directed bearing. However, it is a relatively new field of study for
unmanned aerial systems like quad-rotors especially motivated by the desire of making
the homing process autonomous. In this study, the received signal strength method to
localize the radio source has been applied and tested. The proposed method employs a
UAS equipped with a radio frequency (RF) receiver to get RSSI readings from the RF
source. The obtained RSSI measurements at three receiving locations are converted to
approximate distances from the transmitter using a log-distance path loss model, and
the localization algorithm based on trilateration is run onboard the microcomputer to
localize the radio transmitter. Through simulations and experiments, the performance
of the suggested method is assessed. The verification mission employing the suggested
technique localized the RF source with a distance error of 15.8 meters and an angle
error of 8.62 degrees, at best, whereas the actual UAS-based flight localized it to the
distance accuracy of 25 meters, and the angle accuracy of 8.32 degrees at a test domain
of 100 meters radius.
Description
Radio-based direction finding is an old concept for manned aircraft where a pilot manually
flies towards the directed bearing.
Keywords
Unmanned Aerial System,, Radio Frequency Localization,, RSSI