IR LOCK working principle (basics)

Hi

I’m a student aeronautical engineering from Belgium. For a project, we are working on ir lock based system that will give us the possibility to land a quadcopter autonomously on a moving usv (boat).

We are looking for the precise working principle of an IR-lock system, but there is nothing to find on the internet that gives really good explanation.

Can someone help us in sharing your knowledge about IR lock?

Regards Elias (srry for bad English :innocent:)

Is it exactly the same story as landing using camera, which is shown in demo movies on youtube? The only difference is that now you have IR camera and IR transmitter ?