Bio-inspired TauPilot for automated aerial 4D docking and landing of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

This paper presents the development and experimental validation of a bio-inspired autopilot, called TauPilot, that is based on the ecological Tau Theory proposed by the psychologist David Lee. Tau theory postulates that animals and humans use the tau (τ) variable (or Time-To-Contact) and simple guidance strategies to prospectively control most of their purposeful movements. This research investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of applying tau theory principles for guiding some crucial maneuvers of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) such as braking, automated aerial docking, automatic landing and moving target interception. The developed TauPilot includes a tau-Guidance system, a tau-Navigation system and a tau-Controller, resulting in 4D (time as the fourth dimension) GN&C system that has the capability to accurately fit maneuvers or actions into 4D slots using only a universal temporal variable tau. TauPilot has been integrated into two rotorcraft UAS and demonstrated in more than one thousand (about 1114) successful tau-controlled flights.