Dynamic shielding system of cellular signals for an antenna of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11943041-B2
Application number	US-202117490047-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2021
Priority date	Apr 6, 2017
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

Dynamic shielding of cellular signals for an antenna of an unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed. An example method may include receiving a navigation route for an unmanned aerial vehicle to execute during flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle and determining an orientation of a radio signal shield for an antenna of the unmanned aerial vehicle using ground level signal propagation information of radio signals for a network and the navigation route, wherein the radio signal shield prevents the radio signals from being received by the antenna from directions based on the orientation. The method may further include adjusting the radio signal shield using the orientation and communicating with a cellular base station of the network using the antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a system comprising a processor, a flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
configuring, by the system, a placement of an antenna shield with respect to an antenna of the unmanned aerial vehicle during flight along the flight path to mimic a signal characteristic at ground level for communication between the unmanned aerial vehicle and a base station at the ground level.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight path comprises a lowest altitude and a highest altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the flight path, and the configuring the placement of the antenna shield is based on the lowest altitude and the highest altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the flight path.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring the placement of the antenna shield comprises modifying the placement of the antenna shield responsive to condition changes during the flight to maintain the mimic of the signal characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal characteristic is a signal interference characteristic.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal characteristic is a signal loss characteristic.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring the placement of the antenna shield is based on a weather condition in the flight path.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring the placement of the antenna shield comprises obtaining information regarding changes in the signal characteristic along the flight path.

8. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining a flight path of a drone; and
modifying an orientation of an adjustable barrier with respect to an antenna of the drone during flight along the flight path to imitate a signal characteristic at ground level for communication between the drone and an access point at the ground level.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the flight path comprises a lower limit altitude and a higher limit altitude of the drone in the flight path, and the modifying the orientation of the adjustable barrier is based on the lower limit altitude and the higher limit altitude of the drone in the flight path.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the modifying the orientation of the adjustable barrier comprises continuously adjusting the orientation of the adjustable barrier during the flight to maintain imitation of the signal characteristic.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the signal characteristic is signal interference.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the signal characteristic is signal loss.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the modifying the orientation of the adjustable barrier is based on an obstacle in a defined area of the flight path.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the modifying the orientation of the adjustable barrier comprises obtaining information regarding changes in the signal characteristic along the flight path.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of an aerial vehicle, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
analyzing a flight path of the aerial vehicle; and
based on the analyzing, adjusting a configuration of an adjustable shield with respect to an antenna of the aerial vehicle during flight along the flight path to conform to a signal characteristic at ground level for communication between the aerial vehicle and a network access point at the ground level.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the flight path comprises a lower limit on altitude and an upper limit on altitude of the aerial vehicle in the flight path, and the adjusting the configuration of the adjustable shield is based on the lower limit on altitude and the upper limit on altitude of the aerial vehicle in the flight path.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the adjusting the configuration of the adjustable shield comprises periodically adjusting the configuration of the adjustable shield during the flight to maintain conformance to the signal characteristic.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the signal characteristic is signal interference.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the signal characteristic is signal loss.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the adjusting the configuration of the adjustable shield is based on an environmental condition in the flight path.

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Kosseifi Mario
• Thomas Joseph
• De Rosa Giuseppe

Classifications

• B64U2101/20

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• B64U2101/64

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• B64U50/31

  generated by photovoltaics · CPC title

• H04B7/18506 Primary

  Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title