Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircrafts such as helicopters and drones, add a flexible degree of operation to
airborne vehicles. In order to operate these devices in low light situations, where it is difficult to determine slope of the
landing surface, a lightweight and standalone device is proposed here. This small optical device can be easily integrated
into current VTOL systems. An optical projector consisting of low power, light weight, solid state laser along with
minimal optics is utilized to illuminate the landing surface with donut shaped circles and coaxial centralized dot. This
device can placed anywhere on the aircraft and a properly placed fiber system can be used to illuminate the surface
beneath the bottom of the VTOL aircraft in a fashion that during operation, when the aircraft is parallel to the landing
surface, the radius between the central dot and outer ring(s) are equidistant for the entire circumference; however, when
there the landing surface of the VTOL aircraft is not parallel to the landing strip, the radial distance between two
opposite sides of the circle and central dot will be unequal. The larger this distortion, the greater the difference will be
between the opposite sides of the circle. Visual confirmation or other optical devices can be used to determine relative
alignment of the projector output allowing the pilot to make proper adjustments as they approach the landing surface to
ensure safe landings. Simulated and experimental results from a prototype optical projector are presented here.
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