I want to use an RF beacon to localize my quadcopter for autolanding, when GPS is not precise enough, for example, when my driveway is only 10 feet wide, and the GPS is only showing 20-30 ft. accuracy (with a proverbial lake of lava on either side). The quadcopter would use the GPS to fly to the rough location until it had a strong enough signal off the beacon, when it would begin to use that signal to come to a landing in a precise location, referenced off said beacon. Can someone please explain to me the concepts and theories behind building the beacon and it's accompanying receiver (suitable for connection to an Arduino via any digital or analog method) and achieving, say, a 4" or better horizontal and vertical accuracy within a 50' sphere? Minimally, the quad should have range and altitude, i.e. "I am 10 feet away from the beacon and 2 feet above it". How much added complexity would it take to make the robot fully position aware about the beacon, i.e. "x ft. South, y ft. West and z ft. above it", where the coordinate system is determined by the beacon and not linked to any sort of geographic coordinate system? If the beacon is mounted on a, say, 10 ft pole, are there any changes to be made versus having it on the ground and presuming that all activity takes place above it's x-y plane?
Last note- This thing would prefferably operate in the 72MHz band, please presume that where I'm operating, there are not other devices operating on the same band.