UAV flight corridor allocation in cellular networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11922818-B2
Application number	US-201817051564-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2018
Priority date	May 3, 2018
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

A system, method, node, apparatus, and computer program for allocating a flight corridor for use by an UAV (10) for traveling from a starting point to a destination point is presented. The UAV (10) is connected to a cellular network and associated with an Application Server, UAV-AS, (100) being responsible for an own geographical service area (150) where the UAV (10) is located. The UAV-AS (100) is maintaining a set of predetermined flight corridor segments in the geographical service area (150). The method is performed by the UAV-AS (100) and comprises receiving a request for allocation of a flight corridor for use by the UAV (10), the request comprising a starting point and a destination point. The method further comprises allocating a flight corridor being seamlessly covered by the cellular network and allowing a seamless control of the UAV (10) by the UAV-AS (100), the flight corridor comprising a concatenation of flight corridor segments and bridging the starting point and the destination point. The method also comprises sending a response comprising an identifier of the allocated flight corridor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle Application Server (UAV-AS) comprising:
at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to:
receive a request for allocation of a flight corridor for use by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for traveling from a starting point to a destination point, the request comprising the starting point and the destination point, wherein the UAV is associated with the UAV-AS being responsible for an own geographical service area where the UAV is located, the UAV-AS maintaining a set of predetermined flight corridor segments in the geographical service area, wherein the request for allocation of a flight corridor is received from a UAV-AS responsible for an adjacent geographical service area;
allocate a flight corridor being seamlessly covered by a cellular network to which the UAV is connected and allowing a seamless control of the UAV by the UAV-AS, the flight corridor comprising a concatenation of flight corridor segments and bridging the starting point and the destination point;
send a response comprising an identifier of the allocated flight corridor; and
control the UAV along the allocated flight corridor via connectivity provided by the seamless coverage of the cellular network.

2. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to:
determine whether the destination point in the request is located outside of the own geographical service area;
if the destination point is located outside of the own geographical service area, determine an adjacent geographical service area for providing a continuation of the flight corridor towards the destination point; and
send a request to an UAV-AS responsible for the determined adjacent geographical service area for allocation a flight corridor for use by the UAV, the request comprising a preferred point of interconnect (POI) towards the determined adjacent geographical service area as starting point and the destination point.

3. The UAV-AS of claim 2 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to:
receive a response comprising an identifier of an allocated flight corridor; and
use the received allocated flight corridor as a flight corridor segment in the allocation of the flight corridor.

4. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to:
determine whether the destination point in the request is located outside of the geographical service area the UAV-AS is responsible for;
if the destination point is located outside of the geographical service area, determine an Point of Interconnect, POI, to an adjacent geographical service area for providing a continuation of the flight corridor towards the destination point; and
use the determined POI as destination point for the allocation of a flight corridor.

5. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , wherein the UAV is under seamless control of the UAV-AS via a connectivity provided by the seamless coverage of the cellular network, wherein control of the UAV comprises steering or position verification of the UAV.

6. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to take into account a load in the flight corridor segments for determination of the flight corridor, the load being related to a number of UAV located in the flight corridor segments.

7. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to take into account a priority of a UAV mission for determination of the flight corridor.

8. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , the at least one memory containing instructions executable by the at least one processor such that UAV-AS is operable to:
maintain a database of flight corridor segments, the database comprising information on the coverage of the cellular network per flight corridor segment; and/or
maintain a database of UAV-AS responsible for adjacent geographical service areas, the database comprising addressing information on how to contact these UAV-AS.

9. The UAV-AS of claim 1 , wherein the flight corridor allocated by the UAV-AS is included in a flight path for use by the UAV for traveling from the starting point to the destination point, wherein the flight path comprises a concatenation of multiple flight corridors in different geographical service areas for which different respective UAV-ASs are responsible.

10. A method for allocating a flight corridor for use by an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, for traveling from a starting point to a destination point, wherein the UAV is connected to a cellular network and associated with a UAV-Application Server, UAV-AS, being responsible for an own geographical service area where the UAV is located, the UAV-AS maintaining a set of predetermined flight corridor segments in the geographical service area, the method being performed by the UAV-AS and comprising:
receiving a request for allocation of a flight corridor for use by the UAV, the request comprising a starting point and a destination point, wherein the request for allocation of a flight corridor is received from a UAV-AS responsible for an adjacent geographical service area;
allocating a flight corridor being seamlessly covered by the cellular network and allowing a seamless control of the UAV by the UAV-AS, the flight corridor comprising a concatenation of flight corridor segments and bridging the starting point and the destination point;
sending a response comprising an identifier of the allocated flight corridor; and
controlling the UAV along the allocated flight corridor via connectivity provided by the seamless coverage of the cellular network.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether the destination point in the request is located outside of the own geographical service area;
if the destination point is located outside of the own geographical service area, determining an adjacent geographical service area for providing a continuation of the flight corridor towards the destination point; and
sending a request to an UAV-AS responsible for the determined adjacent geographical service area for allocation a flight corridor for use by the UAV, the request comprising a preferred point of interconnect (POI) towards the determined adjacent geographical service area as starting point and the destination point.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a response comprising an identifier of an allocated flight corridor; and
using the received allocated flight corridor as a flight corridor segment in the allocation of the flight corridor.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether the destination point in the request is located outside of the geographical service area the UAV-AS is responsible for;
if the destination point is located outside of the geographical service area, determining an Point of Interconnect, POI, to an adjacent geographical service area for providing a continuation of the flight corridor towards the destination point; and
using the determined POI as destination point for the allocation of a flight corridor.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the UAV is under seamless control of the UAV-AS via a connectivity provided by the seamless coverage of the cellula

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Poscher Jens
• Detke Ralph
• Eichinger Stefan
• Tercero Pedro

Classifications

• 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

• G08G5/26 Primary

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

• G08G5/727

  from a ground station · CPC title