Unmanned aerial vehicle rooftop inspection system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12039875-B2
Application number	US-202117508624-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2021
Priority date	Dec 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 16, 2024
Grant date	Jul 16, 2024

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for an unmanned aerial system inspection system. One of the methods is performed by a UAV and includes receiving, by the UAV, flight information describing a job to perform an inspection of a rooftop. A particular altitude is ascended to, and an inspection of the rooftop is performed including obtaining sensor information describing the rooftop. Location information identifying a damaged area of the rooftop is received. The damaged area of the rooftop is traveled to. An inspection of the damaged area of the rooftop is performed including obtaining detailed sensor information describing the damaged area. A safe landing location is traveled to.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
storing, based on an initial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight about a structure, a flight plan including multiple inspection locations for the structure and, for each inspection location of the multiple inspection locations, a height above the inspection location at which to inspect the structure, wherein the height is different for each of the multiple inspection locations, wherein the initial UAV flight corresponds to an initial scan of the structure performed using the UAV and the flight plan is determined in response to the initial scan;
receiving, by a UAV, the flight plan for an inspection of the structure;
navigating the UAV to ascend to a clearance altitude above the structure, wherein the clearance altitude represents a safe distance limited by a geofence boundary associated with the structure;
conducting the inspection of the structure according to the flight plan by, for each inspection location of the multiple inspection locations:
navigating the UAV to a position above the inspection location, and at the position, navigating the UAV to descend to an inspection altitude based on the height for the inspection location;
obtaining, using one or more sensors of the UAV, sensor information describing the structure at the inspection location from the inspection altitude; and
navigating the UAV to ascend to the clearance altitude; and

navigating the UAV to a landing location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein first sensor information obtained from a first inspection altitude at a first inspection location of the multiple inspection locations and second sensor information obtained from a second inspection altitude at a second inspection location of the multiple inspection locations include different levels of detail based on the first inspection altitude and the second inspection altitude.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein navigating the UAV to the position above the inspection location, and at the position, navigating the UAV to descend to the inspection altitude based on the height for the inspection location comprises:
causing the UAV to vertically descend over the inspection location to maintain the inspection location as a focus of the one or more sensors of the UAV.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein control of the UAV by a user device in communication with the UAV is limited during the inspection.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the structure includes a rooftop and each inspection location corresponds to a damaged area of the rooftop of the structure.

6. A system, comprising:
a device configured to store a flight plan based on an initial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight about a structure, wherein the flight plan includes multiple inspection locations for the structure and, for each inspection location of the multiple inspection locations, a height above the inspection location at which to inspect the structure, and wherein the height is different for each of the multiple inspection locations, wherein the initial UAV flight corresponds to an initial scan of the structure performed using the UAV and the flight plan is determined in response to the initial scan; and
a UAV including a memory, a processor, and one or more sensors, wherein, to conduct an inspection of the structure according to the flight plan at a first inspection location and at a second inspection location, the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
navigate the UAV to a clearance altitude above the structure, wherein the clearance altitude represents a safe distance limited by a geofence boundary associated with the structure;
navigate the UAV to a first position above the first inspection location, and at the first position, navigate the UAV to descend to a first inspection altitude based on the height for the first inspection location;
obtain first sensor information at the first inspection location from the first inspection altitude;
navigate the UAV to a second position above the second inspection location, and at the second position, navigate the UAV to descend to a second inspection altitude based on the height for the second inspection location;
obtain second sensor information at second first inspection location from the second inspection altitude;
navigate the UAV to the clearance altitude above the structure in response to obtaining the second sensor information; and
navigate the UAV to a landing location.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first sensor information and the second sensor information include different levels of detail based on the first inspection altitude and the second inspection altitude.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the flight plan is a second flight plan, wherein the device is a user device, and wherein the system further comprises:
a cloud system configured to determine a first flight plan for the UAV to scan the structure during the initial UAV flight, wherein the user device is configured to determine the second flight plan based on output of the scan.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the device is a device of a cloud system.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the structure includes a rooftop and the device is configured to determine the flight plan based on a boundary of the rooftop of the structure.

11. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
storing, based on an initial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight about a structure, a flight plan including multiple inspection locations for the structure and, for each inspection location of the multiple inspection locations, a height above the inspection location at which to inspect the structure, wherein the height is different for each of the multiple inspection locations, wherein the initial UAV flight corresponds to an initial scan of the structure performed using the UAV and the flight plan is determined in response to the initial scan;
navigating a UAV to ascend to a clearance altitude above the structure, wherein the clearance altitude represents a safe distance limited by a geofence boundary associated with the structure;
conducting, using the UAV, including one or more sensors, an inspection of the structure at a first inspection location and at a second inspection location by:
navigating the UAV to a first inspection altitude above the first inspection location based on the height for the first inspection location;
obtaining, using the one or more sensors, first sensor information describing the structure at the first inspection location from the first inspection altitude;
navigating the UAV to a second inspection altitude above the second inspection location based on the height for the second inspection location; and
obtaining, using the one or more sensors, second sensor information describing the structure at the second inspection location from the first inspection altitude.

12. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the first sensor information and the second sensor information include different levels of detail based on the first inspection altitude and the second inspection altitude.

13. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations for conducting the inspection of the structure at the first inspection location and at the second inspection location comprise:
navigating the UAV to a first position above the first inspection location, and at the first position, navigating the UAV to descend to the first inspection altitude; and
navigating the UAV to a second position above the second inspect

Assignees

• Skydio Inc

Inventors

• Bauer Mark Patrick
• Richman Brian
• Poole Alan Jay
• Michini Bernard J
• Lovegren Jonathan Anders
• Bethke Brett Michael
• Li Hui

Classifications

• G08G5/54

  for approach or landing · CPC title

• G08G5/52

  for take-off · CPC title

• G08G5/32

  for flight plan preparation · CPC title

• G08G5/26

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

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title