Systems and methods for generating and monitoring flight routes and buffer zones for unmanned aerial vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11004345-B2
Application number	US-201916506716-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2019
Priority date	Jul 31, 2018
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

In some embodiments, methods and systems are provided that provide for creating and monitoring predefined mission routes along air rails and non-overlapping buffer zones surrounding unmanned vehicles during travel of the unmanned vehicles along the predefined mission routes. The buffer zone may be thought of as a projected movement variation area being associated by the system to the UAV and containing four dimensions, the three positional dimensions, X, Y, and Z, along with a temporal one, time. Generally, the buffer zone will change as ambient conditions, location, and orientation of an unmanned vehicle change during travel of the unmanned vehicle along its predefined mission route.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for creating and monitoring predefined mission routes and buffer zones for unmanned vehicles during travel of the unmanned vehicles along the predefined mission routes, the system comprising:
a plurality of unmanned vehicles each including a processor-based control circuit and configured to transport commercial retail products and goods not for sale along predefined mission routes, each of the unmanned vehicles including at least one sensor configured to detect and transmit over a network at least one status input associated with the unmanned vehicle during movement along the predefined mission route;
a computing device including a processor-based control unit and being in communication with each of the unmanned vehicles over the network, the computing device being configured to:
determine the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles to deliver the products to their respective delivery destinations;
analyze, prior to deployment of the unmanned vehicles, the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles in order to determine a buffer zone surrounding each of the unmanned vehicles, the buffer zones of the unmanned vehicles being non-overlapping to avoid projected collisions of the unmanned vehicles;
transmit a control signal including the predefined mission route and the determined buffer zone over the network to each of the unmanned vehicles;

wherein the control circuit of each of the unmanned vehicles is configured to:
analyze the at least one status input while the unmanned vehicles are deployed along their predefined mission routes to determine whether at least one of the unmanned vehicles deviated from their predefined mission routes;
evaluate a projected deviation of the buffer zone of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route in order to determine whether the buffer zone of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route is projected to overlap a buffer zone of at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles; and
alter the mission route of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route such that the buffer zones of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route and the at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles are projected to no longer overlap each other; and

at least one scout vehicle configured to analyze, prior to the deployment of the unmanned vehicles, travel conditions along the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles and transmit at least one signal over the network to the computing device, the signal including the travel conditions analyzed by the at least one scout vehicle, the computing device being configured to determine the buffer zone for each of the unmanned vehicles based at least in part on the signal received from the at least one scout vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one status input comprises at least one of: unmanned vehicle size, unmanned vehicle weight, unmanned vehicle speed, unmanned vehicle altitude, ambient wind speed, ambient air precipitation, ambient air density, unmanned vehicle electronics status, unmanned vehicle communication status, unmanned vehicle global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, presence of no fly zones along the predefined mission route, and presence of obstacles along the predefined mission route.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises an altimeter, velocimeter, thermometer, photocell, battery life sensor, camera, radar, lidar, laser range finder, and sonar.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein, after a predetermined time interval during which a deviation of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles from the predefined mission route has not been corrected by the control circuit of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles, the computing device is configured to:
evaluate a projected deviation of the buffer zone of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route in order to determine whether the buffer zone of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route is projected to overlap a buffer zone of at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles; and
alter the mission route of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route such that the buffer zones of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route and the at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles are projected to no longer overlap each other.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is programmed to transmit a control signal over the network to the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route in order to alter the mission route of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the buffer zone determined by the computing device is a three-dimensional buffer zone.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one scout vehicle is further configured to:
analyze, after the deployment of the unmanned vehicles, the travel conditions along the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles; and
transmit at least one signal over the network to at least one of the computing device and the unmanned vehicles.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route is programmed to alter the mission route of the at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles instead of altering the mission route of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit of the at least one of the unmanned vehicles that deviated from the predefined mission route is programmed to transmit a control signal over the network to the at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles, the control signal including an altered mission route for the at least one other one of the unmanned vehicles.

10. A method for creating and monitoring predefined mission routes and buffer zones for unmanned vehicles during travel of the unmanned vehicles along the predefined mission routes, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of unmanned vehicles each including a processor-based control circuit and configured to transport commercial retail products and goods not for sale along predefined mission routes, each of the unmanned vehicles including at least one sensor configured to detect and transmit over a network at least one status input associated with the unmanned vehicle during movement along the predefined mission route;
providing a computing device including a processor-based control unit and being in communication with each of the unmanned vehicles over the network;
determining, via the computing device, the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles to deliver the products to their respective delivery destinations;
analyzing, via the computing device and prior to deployment of the unmanned vehicles, the predefined mission route for each of the unmanned vehicles in order to determine a buffer zone surrounding each of the unmanned vehicles, the buffer zones of the unmanned vehicles being non-overlapping to avoid projected collisions of the unmanned vehicles;
transmitting, via the computing device, a control signal including the predefined mission route and the determined buffer zone over the network to each of the unmanned v

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Cantrell Robert L
• High Donald R
• Mangosing Samantha M
• Winkle David C
• O'Brien John J

Classifications

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title

• G08G5/80

  Anti-collision systems · CPC title

• G08G5/59

  in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title