Routing based on aerial vehicle characteristics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11804141-B2
Application number	US-202016894264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2020
Priority date	Jun 7, 2019
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

Aerial vehicles are assigned to routes within a transportation network based on a state of charge, state of power, and/or state of health for the aerial vehicle. Such aspects can be modeled based on one or more statistical models and/or machine-learned models, among other examples. As another example, an energy budget is used to ensure that the state of charge, state of power, and/or state of health of the aerial vehicle during and/or after traveling the route remains within the energy budget. A payload is assigned to a route and an associated aerial vehicle, thereby generating an itinerary. In examples, the itinerary is validated by the aerial vehicle to ensure that the aerial vehicle is capable of traveling the route with the payload. In examples where the aerial vehicle rejects the itinerary, the itinerary is assigned to another aerial vehicle and a new itinerary is identified for the aerial vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining an aerial vehicle and route to transport a payload comprising one or more passengers within a transportation network, comprising:
generating a set of available routes in the transportation network based on historical demand information, wherein each route comprises a departure vertiport and an arrival vertiport;
accessing, for a set of aerial vehicles of the transportation network, a set of vehicle characteristics for each aerial vehicle of the set of aerial vehicles, wherein the set of vehicle characteristics comprises:
a state of charge of the aerial vehicle;
a state of power of the aerial vehicle; and
a state of health of the aerial vehicle;

receiving an itinerary request associated with aerial transport of the one or more passengers, the itinerary request comprising payload characteristics, the payload characteristics comprising a quantity of the one or more passengers in the payload;
accessing capability information for each vertiport of a route in the set of available routes;
assigning, based on the set of vehicle characteristics, the payload characteristics including the quantity of the one or more passengers in the payload, and the capability information, an aerial vehicle from the set of aerial vehicles to the route, wherein the aerial vehicle is assigned based on a determination that the aerial vehicle will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport, the energy budget based on at least one of the state of charge of the aerial vehicle or the state of power of the aerial vehicle;
generating, using a machine-learned model for a type of the assigned aerial vehicle, a predicted state of charge for the assigned aerial vehicle;
receiving a state of charge indication from a sensor of the assigned aerial vehicle that is different than the predicted state of charge;
identifying a subsequent route assigned to the assigned aerial vehicle; and
based on the received state of charge indication, assigning a new aerial vehicle to the subsequent route instead of the assigned aerial vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating an itinerary comprising information associated with the subsequent route and the new aerial vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication from the assigned aerial vehicle rejecting the route; and
based on the indication from the assigned aerial vehicle rejecting the route, assigning a new aerial vehicle to the subsequent route instead of the assigned aerial vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining to route the assigned aerial vehicle to a different vertiport than a vertiport associated with the subsequent route after completing the route.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the route is a first route of a set of routes for the assigned aerial vehicle, and further comprising:
determining a second route for the aerial vehicle comprising an arrival vertiport that is the same as a departure vertiport of the first route;
assigning the second route to the aerial vehicle; and
reordering the set of routes for the assigned aerial vehicle to travel the second route prior to traveling the first route.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the route is a first route, and further comprising:
determining that a new route is to be generated based on the payload characteristics instead of using the first route to transport the one or more passengers;
generating the new route comprising a new departure vertiport and a new arrival vertiport based on the payload characteristics;
determining a new aerial vehicle for the new route based on the payload characteristics, a vehicle characteristic for the new aerial vehicle, and capability information associated with the new arrival vertiport; and
generating an itinerary in response to the itinerary request comprising information associated with the new route and the new aerial vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
evaluating the payload characteristics, the route, and the assigned aerial vehicle to determine that the route is to be used to transport the one or more passengers; and
generating an itinerary comprising information associated with the route and the assigned aerial vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the aerial vehicle to the route further comprises evaluating a predicted amount of time for the assigned aerial vehicle to reach a predetermined state of charge at the arrival vertiport.

9. A method for validating an itinerary to transport one or more passengers using an aerial vehicle within a transportation network, comprising:
receiving, from a transportation system, an itinerary comprising a starting vertiport, a destination vertiport, and an indication of the one or more passengers;
accessing a set of vehicle characteristics for the aerial vehicle, comprising:
an energy type of the aerial vehicle;
a state of charge of the aerial vehicle;
a state of power of the aerial vehicle; and
a state of health of the aerial vehicle;

receiving an itinerary request associated with aerial transport of the one or more passengers, the itinerary request comprising payload characteristics, the payload characteristics comprising a quantity of the one or more passengers in the payload;
providing the set of vehicle characteristics, the starting vertiport, the destination vertiport, and payload characteristics including the quantity of the one or more passengers associated with the one or more passengers to a machine-learned model configured to validate whether the aerial vehicle is capable of performing the itinerary and whether the aerial vehicle will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the destination vertiport, the energy budget being based on at least one of the state of charge of the aerial vehicle or the state of power of the aerial vehicle; and
providing, to the transportation system, an indication to either accept the itinerary or reject the itinerary based on validating whether the aerial vehicle is capable of performing the itinerary and whether the aerial vehicle will maintain the energy budget above the threshold.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein an indication to reject the itinerary is provided to the transportation system, and further comprising:
receiving, from the transportation system, a second itinerary; and
evaluating the set of vehicle characteristics to validate the second itinerary.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein evaluating the set of vehicle characteristics to validate whether the aerial vehicle is capable of performing the itinerary further comprises:
generating a display comprising a vehicle status indication based on evaluating the set of vehicle characteristics; and
receiving input via the display accepting or rejecting the itinerary.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the set of vehicle characteristics are accessed at least in part from a vehicle state monitor of the aerial vehicle.

13. A system for determining an aerial vehicle and route to transport a payload comprising one or more passengers within a transportation network, comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory, operatively connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform a set of operations comprising:
generating a set of available routes in a transportation network based on historical demand information, wherein each route comprises a departure vertiport and an arrival vertiport;
accessing, for a set of aerial vehicles of the transportation network, a s

Assignees

• Joby Aero Inc

Inventors

• Chase Adam Thomas
• Villa Ian Andreas
• Wilhelm Luke Asher
• Petersen Jon
• Mcdonald Robert Alan
• Moore Mark Douglass
• Mikolajczak Celina

Classifications

• G05D2109/20

  Aircraft, e.g. drones · CPC title

• G05D2105/28

  of freight · CPC title

• B64U80/25

  for recharging batteries; for refuelling · CPC title

• G05D1/654

  Landing (docking at a base station G05D1/661) · CPC title

• G05D1/6445

  for optimising payload operation, e.g. camera or spray coverage · CPC title