Offline perching location selection for quadrotor UAV in urban environment

In this paper, an offline perching location selection (from roof-tops) algorithm is developed for quadrotor UAVs to monitor a target, being either a point of interest (POI) or a face of interest (FOI). The selection algorithm is carried out in two steps, preliminary selection and precise selection. In the preliminary selection stage, geometric constraints, including UAV dimension, camera range, roof area, and roof slope, are applied to identify all the feasible roof-tops for perching. In the precise selection stage, line-of-sight check is carried out for every edge of the feasible roof-tops to determine the feasible perching locations on it. Finally, a set of top ranked perching locations, based on the distance to the target, are generated.