Management device, flight management system, flight management method and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11423786-B2
Application number	US-201816645582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2018
Priority date	Sep 25, 2017
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

A management device is configured to acquire a flight-schedule time/date, a flight-start position, and a flight-end position with respect to a flight device, to determine a plurality of base stations based on the flight-start position and the flight-end position, to estimate allocatable radio resources, which are allocated to the flight device at the flight-schedule time/date by each of the base stations, according to the history information of the communication status of the base stations, to compare allocatable radio resources to the flight device with necessary radio resources scheduled to be used for a communication of the flight device, and to thereby set a flight route of the flight device over a cell of a base station which provides allocatable radio resources to the flight device larger than necessary radio resources scheduled to be used for the communication of the flight device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A management device configured to instruct a flight direction for a flight device to fly according to a flight route based on a communication status for each base station in a plurality of base stations to communicate with the flight device, comprising a processor and a memory, the processor executing instructions stored on the memory, being configured to:
acquire a flight-schedule time/date, a flight-start position, and a flight-end position of the flight device;
determine the plurality of base stations covering a plurality of cells based on the flight-start position and the flight-end position;
statistically estimate allocatable radio resources corresponding to radio resources to be allocated to the flight device at the flight-schedule time/date by each base station among the plurality of base stations according to history information relating to the communication status of the plurality of base stations, wherein the radio resources represent a number of resource elements each defined as a prescribed frequency in a prescribed time;
compare allocatable radio resources with necessary radio resources to be used for a communication of the flight device with each base station among the plurality of base stations; and
set a flight route of the flight device over a cell covered by a base station which provides the allocatable radio resources to the flight device larger than the necessary radio resources to be used for the communication of the flight device.

2. The management device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to assume an average value of a usage rate of bandwidths according to the history information so as to estimate the allocatable radio resources as unused bandwidths from the average value of the usage rate of bandwidths, and wherein the processor is configured to set the flight route of the flight device over the cell covered by the base station which provides the allocatable radio resources to the flight device at a usable frequency band of the flight device among a plurality of frequency bands larger than the necessary radio resources to be used for the communication of the flight device.

3. The management device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to acquire a flight-schedule count representing the number of other flight devices scheduled to concurrently fly in the cell covered by the base station, and wherein the processor is configured to set the flight route over the cell covered by the base station ascribed to the flight-schedule count which does not reach an upper-limit count of concurrent flights.

4. The management device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to
acquire an intensity of interference measured between a cell locating the flight device and its adjacent cell among the plurality of cells, and
adjust a direction of radio waves transmitted by an antenna of the base station towards the flight device when the intensity of interference acquired by the processor in the cell of the base station attributed to the flight route of the flight device is higher than a threshold value.

5. The management device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to
acquire an intensity of interference occurring between adjacent base stations among the plurality of base stations, and
set the flight route to bypass a cell of a base station causing the intensity of interference above a threshold value.

6. The management device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to
acquire the communication status of the plurality of base stations and to thereby acquire allocatable radio resources to the flight device with the plurality of base stations according to the communication status of the plurality of base stations, and
reset the flight route of the flight device over the cell covered by the base station which provides allocatable radio resources to the flight device according to the communication status of the plurality of base stations larger than necessary radio resources scheduled to be used for the communication of the flight device.

7. A flight management method configured to instruct a flight direction for a flight device to fly according to a flight route based on a communication status for each base station in a plurality of base stations to communicate with the flight device, comprising:
acquiring a flight-schedule time/date, a flight-start position, and a flight-end position of a flight device;
determining the plurality of base stations covering a plurality of cells based on the flight-start position and the flight-end position;
statistically estimating allocatable radio resources corresponding to radio resources to be allocated to the flight device at the flight-schedule time/date by each of the plurality of base stations according to history information relating to the communication status of the plurality of base stations, wherein the radio resources represent a number of resource elements each defined as a prescribed frequency in a prescribed time;
comparing the estimated allocatable radio resources with necessary radio resources to be used for a communication of the flight device with each base station among the plurality of base stations; and
setting a flight route of the flight device over a cell covered by a base station which provides the allocatable radio resources to the flight device larger than the necessary radio resources to be used for the communication of the flight device.

Assignees

• Kddi Corp

Inventors

• Shao Xiao
• Takeda Hiroki
• Watanabe Shingo

Classifications

• H04W72/51

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title

• G08G5/30

  Flight plan management · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/26 Primary

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title

• G08G5/22

  located on the ground · CPC title