Systems and methods for management of unmanned aerial vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11995430-B2
Application number	US-202117481818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2021
Priority date	Sep 22, 2021
Publication date	May 28, 2024
Grant date	May 28, 2024

Abstract

A system, platform, computer program product, and/or method for managing UAV resources is disclosed that includes: receiving UAV specifications to provision one or more UAVs; converting the UAV specifications to UAV specification metadata; transforming the UAV specification metadata to UAV configuration metadata to configure UAV software for the one or more UAVs; and configuring, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV software for the one or more UAVs. The system, platform, program product, and method can further include assembling, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV hardware of the one or more UAVs; deploying the one or more UAVs from a base location to a new location; transferring control over operation of the one or more UAVs to a third-party operator; creating and configuring a network connection to the one or more UAVs; and/or remotely logging into an operating system of the one or more UAVs.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method for assembling and managing remote unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) resources, the method comprising:
receiving by a UAV computing resource group UAV specifications to provision one or more UAVs that are remote from the UAV computing resource group with UAV hardware and UAV software, wherein the UAV computing resource group consists of at least one of: Central Resource Computing Group, UAV Provider Computing Resources, and combinations thereof and wherein the UAV specifications are received as at least one of a UAV specification group consisting of: a digital diagram, a hand sketch, or feature list and the UAV specification group provides at least two of a UAV parameter group comprising payload capacity and battery life;
converting by the UAV computing resource group the UAV specifications to UAV specification metadata readable by the UAV computing resource group to prepare one or more remote UAVs;
transforming by the UAV computing resource group the UAV specification metadata to UAV configuration metadata to assemble the UAV hardware for the one or more remote UAVs and to configure the UAV software for the UAV hardware used to assemble the one or more remote UAVs, wherein the UAV configuration metadata includes at least one of a UAV hardware group consisting of: number of motors, size of motors, UAV model, CPU, memory capacity, battery size, battery type, GPS system, video system, temperature control system, and combinations thereof;
configuring, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV software for the UAV hardware used to assemble the one or more remote UAVs, wherein the UAV software includes an operating system and communication software that facilitates communication with and control over the one or more remote UAVs;
assembling, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV hardware of the one or more remote UAVs; and
installing the UAV software in the assembled one or more remote UAVs.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising pricing use of the one or more UAVs.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein pricing the use of the one or more UAVs is calculated using machine learning models and is based upon a group consisting of at least one of: a quantity of UAVs, the specification of each one of the UAVs, the time of the rental, the services provided by the UAVs, and combinations thereof.

4. The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
deploying the one or more UAVs from a base location to a new location.

5. The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising transferring control over operation of the one or more UAVs from the UAV provider to a third-party operator.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising creating and configuring a network connection to the one or more UAVs.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising remotely logging into the operating system of the one or more UAVs.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising loading each of the one or more UAVs with a UAV provider API package comprising a group of minified operating system containers running in parallel, wherein the UAV provider API package serves as a gateway for all incoming and outgoing communications with each UAV and detects UAV events.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising decommissioning the one or more UAVs, wherein decommissioning the one or more UAVs comprises at least one of a group consisting of: transferring control over operation of the one or more UAVs to a different operator, decommissioning a network connection to the one or more UAVs, and combinations thereof.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising managing the UAV resources, wherein managing the UAV resources comprises at least one of a group consisting of: allocating one or more UAVs; deploying one or more UAVs; handling navigation functions of one or more UAVs; selecting, assembling, and updating one or more UAV hardware configurations; selecting, installing, and updating UAV software; setting up and managing UAV network connections and settings; handling battery charging functions of the one or more UAVs; and combinations thereof.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising monitoring the one or more UAVs, wherein monitoring the one or more UAVs comprises monitoring at least one of a group consisting of: a battery condition; navigation functions of the one or more UAVs; activities of the one or more UAVs; location of the one or more UAVs; configurations of the one or more UAVs; network settings of the one or more UAVs; status of the UAV resources; and combinations thereof.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the UAV parameter group further comprises at least one of: operating speed of the UAV; maximum speed of the UAV; network interface; network settings; network configuration; camera operation; temperature range; GPS specification; and combinations thereof.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising one or more access methods to commission the one or more UAVs comprising at least one of a group consisting of: command line interface (CLI); infrastructure as code (IaC); Representational State Transfer Application Program Interface (REST API); and combinations thereof.

14. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising managing a battery condition of a UAV wherein managing a battery condition of a UAV comprises:
detecting a low battery condition;
providing a notification to a notification group in response to the low battery condition, wherein the notification group consists of at least one of: a UAV provider; UAV provider computing resources; Central Computing Resource Environments; and combinations thereof; and
implementing a change in UAV operation in response to detecting a low battery condition.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , further comprising:
determining whether a UAV user implements a change in UAV operation; and
taking control, in response to the UAV user not implementing a change in UAV operation, of the UAV by at least one of a group comprising: a UAV provider; UAV provider computing resources; Central Computing Resource Environments; and combinations thereof.

16. A computer program product for assembling and managing UAV resources, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
receive by a UAV computing resource group UAV specifications to provision one or more UAVs that are remote from the UAV provider resources with UAV hardware and UAV software, wherein the UAV computing resource group consists of at least one of: Central Resource Computing Group, UAV Provider Computing Resources, and combinations thereof and wherein the UAV specifications are received as at least one of a UAV specification group consisting of: a digital diagram, a hand sketch, or feature list and the UAV specification group provides at least two of a UAV parameter group comprising payload capacity and battery life;
convert by the UAV computing resource group the UAV specifications to UAV specification metadata readable by the UAV computing resource group to prepare one or more UAVs;
transform by the UAV computing resource group the UAV specification metadata to UAV configuration metadata to assemble the UAV hardware for the one or more remote UAVs and to configure the UAV software for the UAV hardware used to assemble the one or more remote UAVs, wherein the UAV configuration metadata includes at

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ran Chuan
• Oluyemi Oluwanifemi
• Movva Vamsee
• Sharif A Jaylani

Classifications

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F8/61 Primary

  Installation · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06Q30/01

  Customer relationship services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0621

  by configuring or customising goods or services · CPC title