Mitigating noise exposure to unmanned aerial vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10515557-B2
Application number	US-201715849369-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2017
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

A computer implemented method of distributing noise exposures to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over a neighborhood includes: receiving flight routing requests to fly the UAVs over the neighborhood; accessing a noise exposure map stored in a noise exposure database in response to the flight routing requests; and generating new flight paths for the UAVs over the neighborhood that load level additional noise exposures that the new flight paths will contribute to the noise exposure map. The noise exposure map includes noise exposure values indexed to properties within the neighborhood. The noise exposure values quantify cumulative noise exposures of the properties due to historical flight paths of the UAVs over the neighborhood.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method of distributing noise exposures to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over a neighborhood, the method comprising:
receiving a flight routing request to fly a first UAV of the UAVs over the neighborhood;
accessing a noise exposure map stored in a noise exposure database in response to the flight routing request, wherein the noise exposure map includes noise exposure values indexed to locations within the neighborhood, and wherein each of the noise exposure values quantifies a cumulative noise exposure of a corresponding one of the locations due at least in part to historical flight paths of the UAVs over the neighborhood; and
generating a new flight path for the first UAV over the neighborhood that load levels additional noise exposures that the new flight path will contribute to the noise exposure map.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
causing the first UAV to fly over the neighborhood along the new flight path by uploading the new flight path into a memory of the first UAV or by wirelessly guiding the first UAV to fly along the new flight path.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating the noise exposure values stored within the noise exposure database to account for the additional noise exposures that the new flight path causes when the first UAV flies the new flight path over the neighborhood.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein updating the noise exposure values includes adjusting a first noise exposure value associated with a first location of the locations when the new flight path is determined to have a noise impact on the first location by exceeding one or more noise related thresholds associated with the first location.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein updating the noise exposure values includes adjusting a given one of the noise exposure values to account for one or more of:
a proximity of a given one of the locations to the new flight path,
a duration of a given one of the additional noise exposures for the given one of the locations,
a noise level of the given one of the additional noise exposures, or
a frequency of noise exposures to the given one of the locations.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the flight routing request is a request to fly the first UAV to a destination location within the neighborhood, and wherein updating the noise exposure values of the noise exposure map comprises:
incrementing the noise exposure values for other ones of the locations impacted by flying the first UAV to the destination location, but not incrementing one of the noise exposure values associated with the destination location.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
decrementing the noise exposure values of the locations according to a specified decay rate.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
incrementing a selected one of the noise exposure values associated with a selected one of the locations upon registering a noise complaint associated with the selected one of the locations.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new flight path that load levels the additional noise exposures includes:
routing the new flight path away from selected ones of the locations with increasing likelihood when the noise exposure values associated with the selected ones of the locations exceed a threshold noise value.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new flight path that load levels the additional noise exposures includes favoring a route for the new flight path that passes over or along a selected one of the locations that is deemed a noise insensitive property.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the noise insensitive property includes one of an unpopulated property or an adjacent property that is proximate to a loud transportation or commercial corridor.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the noise insensitive property includes a business during non-business hours.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new flight path that load levels the additional noise exposures includes:
scheduling the first UAV to temporarily disable or reduce rotor thrust to reduce or eliminate rotor noise; and
scheduling the first UAV to glide, or partially glide, over a noise sensitive property of the locations while the rotor thrust is temporarily disabled or reduced.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new flight path that load levels the additional noise exposures includes:
selecting the new flight path based at least in part on one or more of hours of operation of local businesses, occurrence of public events, school hours, or public transportation schedules.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new flight path that load levels the additional noise exposures includes:
scheduling speakers of the first UAV to direct active noise cancellation in a direction of a noise sensitive property when flying proximate to the noise sensitive property to reduce a given additional noise exposure to the noise sensitive property.

16. A system for distributing noise exposures to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over a neighborhood, the system comprising:
a noise exposure database storing a noise exposure map for the neighborhood, wherein the noise exposure map includes noise exposure values indexed to properties within the neighborhood, and wherein the noise exposure values quantify cumulative noise exposures of the properties due at least in part to historical flight paths of the UAVs over the neighborhood;
a flight routing system coupled to the noise exposure database, wherein the flight routing system includes instructions stored on a memory, that when executed by the flight routing system, cause the flight routing system to perform operations including:
receiving a flight routing request to fly a first UAV of the UAVs over the neighborhood; and
generating a new flight path for the first UAV, in response to the flight routing request, that load levels additional noise exposures that the new flight path will contribute to the noise exposure map; and

a noise exposure updater coupled to the noise exposure database to update the noise exposure values in response to the first UAV flying the new flight path over the neighborhood.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the noise exposure updater includes instructions, that when executed, cause the noise exposure updater to perform operations including:
adjusting a first noise exposure value associated with a first property of the properties when the new flight path is determined to have a noise impact on the first property by exceeding one or more noise related thresholds associated with the first property.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the noise exposure updater includes further instructions, that when executed, cause the noise exposure updater to perform further operations including:
adjusting a given one of the noise exposure values to account for one or more of:
a proximity of a given one of the properties to the new flight path,
a duration of a given one of the additional noise exposures for the given one of the properties,
a noise level of the given one of the additional noise exposures, or
a frequency of noise exposures to the given one of the properties.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the noise exposure updater includes further instructions, that when executed, cause the noise exposure updater to perform further operations including:
incrementing a selected one of the noise exposure values associated with a selected one

Assignees

• X Dev Llc
• Wing Aviation Llc

Inventors

• Kubie Martin
• Woodworth Adam
• Blake Jesse
• Negron Reinaldo
• Burgess James
• Prager André
• Lacy Stephen
• Pantalone Giulia

Classifications

• G01C21/005 Primary

  with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching (G01C21/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

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

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title

• B64C2201/141

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G08G5/006

  Physics · mapped topic