Inter-vehicle communication for hazard handling for an unoccupied flying vehicle (UFV)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10518877-B2
Application number	US-201213720694-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2012
Priority date	Dec 19, 2012
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed herein are example embodiments for inter-vehicle communication for hazard handling with an unoccupied flying vehicle (UFV). For certain example embodiments, at least one machine may: (i) receive one or more flight attributes from a remote UFV, with the one or more flight attributes indicative of one or more flight characteristics of the remote UFV; or (ii) adjust a flight path of a UFV based at least partially on one or more flight attributes received from a remote UFV. However, claimed subject matter is not limited to any particular described embodiments, implementations, examples, or so forth.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for hazard handling for an unoccupied flying vehicle (UFV), the method being at least partially implemented by at least one machine, the method comprising:
autonomously electronically controlling an unoccupied flying vehicle (UFV) including at least autonomously negotiating a flight path adjustment with at least one remote UFV (RUFV) including at least:
interrogating the at least one RUFV including at least requesting one or more RUFV flight attributes including at least one flight characteristic and at least one flight capability;
receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV responsive to the interrogation;
autonomously determining a prospective UFV flight path adjustment including at least extrapolating one or more expected future RUFV flight characteristics from two or more recent values of the one or more RUFV flight attributes and determining the prospective UFV flight path adjustment based at least partly on the one or more expected future RUFV flight characteristics; and
exchanging one or more flight path adjustment options between the UFV and the at least one RUFV including at least transmitting at least one offer associated with the prospective UFV flight path adjustment to the at least one RUFV, receiving at least one reply indicative of acceptance or rejection of the at least one offer from the at least one RUFV, adopting the prospective UFV flight path adjustment when the at least one reply indicates acceptance of the at least one offer, and at least repeating at least part of the autonomously negotiating the flight path adjustment with the at least one RUFV when the at least one reply indicates rejection of the at least one offer; and
autonomously adjusting a flight path of the UFV at least in accordance with the adopted prospective UFV flight path adjustment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving the one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV at the UFV.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the receiving the one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV at the UFV comprises:
receiving the one or more RUFV flight attributes at the UFV directly from the at least one RUFV via at least one wireless signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving the one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV in response to a previously-transmitted request for at least one flight attribute.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving the one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV in accordance with an expected flight attribute update procedure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one scalar value representing at least one substantially current flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one velocity representing at least one substantially current flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one acceleration representing at least one substantially current flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one altitude representing at least one substantially current flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one position representing at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiving at least one position representing at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one geographical position representing at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiving at least one position representing at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one position indication with reference to at least one determinable position with respect to the earth, the at least one position indication being representative of at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiving at least one position representing at least one flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one satellite positioning system (SPS) coordinate that is representative of at least one substantially current flight characteristic of the at least one RUFV.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one acceleration that is expected to be representative of at least a portion of a flight state of the at least one RUFV at a future position.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one satellite positioning system (SPS) coordinate that is expected to be representative of at least a portion of a positional state of the at least one RUFV at a future time.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one velocity that is expected to be representative of at least a portion of a flight state of the at least one RUFV at a future position.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the requested one or more RUFV flight attributes from the at least one RUFV comprises:
receiving at least one first satellite positioning system (SPS) coordinate associated with a first time and at least one second SPS coordinate associated with a second time.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomously adjusting a flight path of the UFV at least in accordance with the adopted prospective UFV flight path adjustment comprises:
adjusting the flight path of the UFV by accelerating the UFV responsive at least partially to the one or more RUFV flight attributes received from the at least one RUFV to avert a collision with the at least one RUFV.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomously adjusting a flight path of the UFV at least in accordance with the adopted prospective UFV flight path adjustment comprises:
adjusting the flight path of the UFV by changing an altitude of the UFV responsive at least partially to the one or more RUFV flight attributes received from the at least one RUFV to increase a vertical separation between the altitude of the UFV and an altitude of the at least one RUFV.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomously adjusting a flight path of the UFV at least in accordance with the adopted prospective UFV flight path adj

Assignees

• Elwha Llc A Ltd Liability Corporation Of The State Of Delaware
• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Levien Royce A
• Lord Robert W
• Lord Richard T
• Malamud Mark A
• Rinaldo Jr John D
• Wood Jr Lowell L

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

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

• B64U2201/102

  adapted for flying in formations · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title

• B64C2201/143

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64C2201/141

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic