Marine waves significantly disturb the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) motion. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can hardly land on a USV that undergoes irregular motion. An oversized landing platform is usually necessary to guarantee the landing safety, which limits the number of UAVs that can be carried. We propose a landing system assisted by tether and robot manipulation. The system can land multiple UAVs without increasing the USV's size. An MPC controller stabilizes the end-effector and tracks the UAVs, and an adaptive estimator addresses the disturbance caused by the base motion. The working strategy of the system is designed to plan the motion of each device. We have validated the manipulator controller through simulations and well-controlled indoor experiments. During the field tests, the proposed system caught and placed the UAVs when the disturbed USV roll range was approximately 12 degrees.

翻译：海洋波浪显著干扰无人艇(USV)的运动。无人机(UAV)难以在发生不规则运动的USV上降落。通常需要过大的降落平台来保证降落安全，这限制了可携带的无人机数量。我们提出一种由系绳和机器人操作辅助的降落系统。该系统无需增大USV尺寸即可降落多架无人机。MPC控制器稳定末端执行器并跟踪无人机，自适应估计器处理基座运动引起的扰动。系统的工作策略旨在规划每个设备的运动。我们通过仿真和受控良好的室内实验验证了机械臂控制器。在实地测试中，当受扰动的USV横摇范围约为12度时，所提系统成功捕获并放置了无人机。