GPS/machine vision navigation system for aircraft

A Kalman filter based multiple sensor fusion method for determining the position of a general aviation aircraft with respect to the runway during night landing and takeoff is discussed. Known structure of the airport lights, video images acquired by an onboard video camera, position estimates from an onboard Global Positioning System (GPS), and data from an attitude indicator are integrated in a Kalman filtering algorithm. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concept.