BUNGEE CORD-BASED UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) LAUNCHER WITH TRAJECTORY PREDICTION

Many UAVs fail to take off because of launchers with poor trajectory pre-diction. Moreover, the cost of manufacturing launchers remains prohibitively high for developing countries seeking to advance their UAV capabilities. In this paper, we pro-pose a low-cost bungee cord-based UAV launcher that provides trajectory prediction and the ability to read the wing area of the UAV to be flown, thereby enhancing the success rate of UAVs to takeoff. The designed launcher features an adjustable angle and can be controlled remotely. The wing area reading was obtained through computer vision using a camera placed on the top of the UAV. The testing results indicate a trajectory differ-ence of 0.14 m between the simulation result and the actual flight. This shows that the proposed launcher significantly improves the accuracy of UAV takeoffs.