  In recent years, Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) have been extensively
deployed for maritime applications. However, USV has a limited detection range
with sensor installed at the same elevation with the targets. In this research,
we propose a cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - Unmanned Surface Vehicle
(UAV-USV) platform to improve the detection range of USV. A floatable and
waterproof UAV is designed and 3D printed, which allows it to land on the sea.
A catamaran USV and landing platform are also developed. To land UAV on the USV
precisely in various lighting conditions, IR beacon detector and IR beacon are
implemented on the UAV and USV, respectively. Finally, a two-phase UAV precise
landing method, USV control algorithm and USV path following algorithm are
proposed and tested.
