Method and systems of autonomously picking up water in support of fire fighting missions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10131429-B2
Application number	US-201615296189-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2016
Priority date	Nov 2, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to systems and methods for autonomously picking up water in support of fire fighting missions using aerial vehicles. More particularly, the disclosure is directed to systems and methods for picking up water in support of fire fighting missions using onboard sensing and decision making processes with application of the fire retardant using unmanned aerial vehicles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system on an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of sensors provided on the unmanned aerial vehicle to at least sense a distance above a water source;
a bucket attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle;
a load sensor which senses an initial decrease in weight of the bucket when the bucket is placed in the water source; and
a controller to automatically control a descent and ascent of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the sensed distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the water source and upon the determining the bucket is in the water source based on the sensed initial decrease in weight of the bucket, maintaining an altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle for a predetermined time to fill the bucket with water from the water source and ascending from the water source with the filled bucket.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensors include at least one of RADAR, LIDAR, Acoustic Ranging, Radar Altimeters, and a camera.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising GPS on the unmanned aerial vehicle, which determines latitude and longitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the load sensor is provided on a line or hook holding the bucket and which determines the weight of the water within the bucket to ensure that it is not overloaded and/or that the unmanned aerial vehicle will still have adequate power to begin its ascent and flight.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller places the aerial vehicle in a hover mode at a constant altitude when the load sensor senses the initial decrease in weight of the bucket when placed in the water source.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the controller controls an ascent of the unmanned aerial vehicle after the predetermined time period has elapsed when the bucket is in the water source and filled with the water.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller and/or plurality of sensors communicate with a ground based system.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller provides its functions without connectivity to the ground based system.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller aborts the descent upon the sensors detecting a safety issue.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the controller, upon aborting the descent, controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to a higher altitude.

11. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:
receive external environmental conditions from one or more sensors associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle;
automatically control a descent of the unmanned aerial vehicle to a water source based on the receiving of the external environmental conditions;
sense an initial decrease in weight of a bucket when the bucket is placed in the water source;
fill of the bucket on the unmanned aerial vehicle with water from the water source; and
automatically control an ascent of the unmanned aerial vehicle upon filling of the bucket.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the automatically controlling the descent of the unmanned aerial vehicle to the water source is based on a sensed distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the water source.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions executable by the computing device cause the computing device to maintain a constant altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle for a predetermined time during the filling of the bucket.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions executable by the computing device cause the computing device to control an ascent of the unmanned aerial vehicle after the predetermined time period has elapsed and to determine the weight of the water within the bucket to ensure that it is not overloaded and/or that the unmanned aerial vehicle will still have adequate power to begin its ascent.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions provide its functions without connectivity to a ground based system.

16. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions executable by the computing device cause the computing device to abort the descent of the unmanned aerial vehicle and control the unmanned aerial vehicle to a higher altitude.

17. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the external environmental conditions from one or more sensors is a load placed on the unmanned aerial vehicle and the program instructions executable by the computing device cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to abort its mission when a safety load limit is exceeded.

18. A system comprising:
a CPU, a computer readable memory which has program instructions stored thereon and a computer readable storage medium;
program instructions to sense a distance of an unmanned aerial vehicle from a water source and descend to the water source;
program instructions to sense a reduced weight of a bucket of the unmanned aerial vehicle as the bucket enters the water source and to determine the weight of the water within the bucket to ensure that it is not overloaded and/or that the unmanned aerial vehicle will still have adequate power to begin its ascent and flight; and
program instructions to ascend the unmanned aerial vehicle after a predetermined amount of time has passed when the bucket enters the water,
wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising the program instructions to maintain an altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle so that the bucket can be filled with water.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller provides the ability of autonomous flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle including an autonomous control of a flight mission comprising allowing the unmanned aerial vehicle to: maneuver to the water source, fill the bucket, and return to altitude without operator intervention, determine the loads placed on the aerial vehicle; automatically descend and ascend from the water source; automatically maneuver around obstacles and obstructions; and abort a mission of the aerial vehicle and ascend.

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Zonio Christopher
• Spura Thomas

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• A62C31/00

  Delivery of fire-extinguishing material (pumps F04; {suction or pressure} hoses, {joints or couplings therefor} F16L) · CPC title

• B64D1/22 Primary

  Taking-up articles from earth's surface · CPC title

• A62C3/0235

  by means of containers, e.g. buckets · CPC title

• B64C2201/12

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic