Real-Time Safe Landing Zone Identification Based on Airborne LiDAR

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing demand for generating digital surface models (DSMs) in real-time, particularly for aircraft landing in degraded visual environments. Challenging landing environments can hinder a pilot’s ability to accurately navigate, see the ground, and avoid obstacles that may lead to equipment damage or loss of life. While many accurate and robust filtering algorithms for airborne laser scanning (ALS) data have been developed, they are typically computationally expensive. Moreover, these filtering algorithms require high execution times, making them unsuitable for real-time applications. This research aims to design and implement an efficient algorithm that can be used in real-time on limited-resource embedded processors without the need for a supercomputer. The proposed algorithm effectively identifies the best safe landing zone (SLZ) for an aircraft/helicopter based on processing 3D LiDAR point cloud data collected from a LiDAR mounted on the aircraft/helicopter. The algorithm was successfully implemented in C++ in real-time and validated using professional software for flight simulation. By comparing the results with maps, this research demonstrates the ability of the developed method to assist pilots in identifying the safest landing zone for helicopters.