The Effect of ArUco Marker Size, Number, and Distribution on the Localization Performance of Fixed-Point Targets

ArUco markers have a lower false alarm rate and higher robustness in pose estimation than other AR libraries and have a wide range of applications in target tracking and UAV positioning. In this paper, we propose an evaluation system for evaluating the accuracy, precision, and processing time of the localization system to address the lack of design guidance for ArUco marker patterns in practice and rely on a homemade test system to give the influence curves between factors such as the number, size, and distribution of ArUco markers and the localization performance based on several comparative experiments. The results show that the size of the marker is the most influential factor in the accuracy and precision of the system. Increasing the marker size from 300 pixels to 1400 pixels improves the accuracy and precision by 134.19 % and 738.89 %, respectively, while the size does not affect the processing time. Increasing the number of markers from 1 to 9 improves the accuracy and precision by 52.96 % and 563.59 %, respectively, but increases the system processing time. Compared to the other factors analyzed, the distribution of markers does not significantly impact the positioning system's performance. The conclusions of this paper are instructive for the subsequent autonomous landing of related UAS platforms.