Planning an operation for a set of assets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12242986-B2
Application number	US-202117478649-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2021
Priority date	Sep 17, 2021
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

A system for planning an operation includes a communication interface and processor(s). The processor(s) is/are configured to: receive an indication that the drone is part of a set of assets, wherein the set of assets are tasked with performing element(s) of task(s), and the set of assets comprises a plurality of drones; communicate information pertaining to the element(s), wherein: 1) the information pertaining to the element(s) is communicated with at least one other drone; 2) the information pertaining to the element(s) is based at least in part on information obtained by sensor(s) of the set of assets; and 3) the information pertaining to the element(s) is used in connection with determining a plan to perform the task(s); and communicate information pertaining to the plan to perform the task(s), wherein the information pertaining to the plan to perform the task(s) is communicated with at least one other drone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drone, comprising:
a communication interface; and
one or more processors coupled to the communication interface and configured to:
receive, via the communication interface, an indication that the drone is part of a set of assets, wherein the set of assets are tasked with performing one or more elements of one or more tasks, and the set of assets comprises a plurality of drones;
communicate, via the communication interface, information pertaining to the one or more elements, wherein:
the information pertaining to the one or more elements is communicated with at least one other drone in the set of assets;
the information pertaining to the one or more elements is based at least in part on information obtained by one or more sensors of the set of assets; and
the information pertaining to the one or more elements is used in connection with determining a plan to perform the one or more tasks;
communicate, via the communication interface, information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks, wherein the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks is communicated with at least one other drone in the set of assets, wherein the communicating of the information pertaining to the plan comprises to:
determine that an additional asset has appeared within a geographical area being subject to surveillance by the set of assets; and
in response to a determination that the additional asset has appeared within the geographical area being subject to surveillance by the set of assets:
 divide, using a leader asset, the set of assets into two partitions, wherein the two partitions include a first partition and a second partition, wherein the leader asset is a leader among at least a subset of the set of assets and wherein the additional asset is assigned to the second partition;
 determine that the leader asset is within the first partition;
 elevate a follower asset to partition leader of the second partition, wherein the follower asset is in the set of assets;
 determine, using the leader asset, a first plan for assets of the first partition; and
 determine, using the partition leader, a second plan for assets of the second partition.

2. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
the drone is a leader drone among at least the subset of the set of assets; and
the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from an operation control system, information pertaining to the one or more elements to be performed by the set of assets.

3. The drone of claim 1 , wherein to communicate the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks comprises:
receiving, from at least one other asset in the set of assets, the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks.

4. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
to communicate the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks comprises:
receiving, from at least one other asset in the set of assets, the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks; and

the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks comprises a completion status with respect to at least one of the one or more elements.

5. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
to communicate the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks comprises:
receiving, from at least one other asset in the set of assets, the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks; and

the information pertaining to the plan to perform the one or more tasks comprises a result of the at least one of the one or more elements, the result being based at least in part on sensor information obtained by one or more sensors of the at least one other asset.

6. The drone of claim 1 , wherein to communicate the information pertaining to the one or more elements comprises:
communicating, to one or more other assets in the set of assets, an instruction to perform at least part of the one or more elements.

7. The drone of claim 1 , wherein the information pertaining to the one or more elements comprises one or more constraint parameters with respect to performance of at least one of the one or more tasks.

8. The drone of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the plan for at least the subset of the plurality of drones to perform at least part of the one or more tasks,
wherein the drone communicates at least part of the plan to at least one other drone of the plurality of drones.

9. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the plan for at least the subset of the plurality of drones to perform at least part of the one or more tasks;

the drone communicates at least part of the plan to at least one other drone of the plurality of drones; and
the plan is determined based at least in part on executing a planning service executed by the one or more processors.

10. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the plan for at least the subset of the plurality of drones to perform at least part of the one or more tasks, comprising
determining, for a set of drones among the plurality of drones, corresponding parts of the plan to be performed by each of the drones in the set of drones; and

the drone communicates at least the parts of the plan to the corresponding drones in the set of drones.

11. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the plan for at least the subset of the plurality of drones to perform at least part of the one or more tasks, comprising:
determining, for a set of drones among the plurality of drones, corresponding parts of the plan to be performed by each of the drones in the set of drones; and

receive, from the set of drones, capability information indicating capabilities respectively supported by the set of drones;

the drone communicates at least the parts of the plan to the corresponding drones in the set of drones; and
the corresponding parts of the plans to be performed by each of the drones in the set of drones is determined based at least in part on the capability information indicating the capabilities respectively supported by the set of drones.

12. The drone of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the plan for at least the subset of the plurality of drones to perform at least part of the one or more tasks, comprising:
receive, from a set of drones among the plurality of drones, capability information indicating capabilities respectively supported by the set of drones;
receive, from an operation control system, an indication of the one or more tasks to be performed by the set of assets;
decompose, by a planning service running on the drone, the one or more tasks to the one or more elements to be performed by at least part of the set of assets;
assign the one or more elements to one or more assets of the set of assets;
determine the plan to perform the one or more elements; and
determine, for the set of drones, corresponding parts of the plan to be performed by each of the drones in the set of drones;

the drone communicates at least the parts of the plan to the corresponding drones in the set of drones;

the corresponding parts of the plans to be performed by each of the drones in the set of drones is determined based at least in part on the capability information indicating the capabilities respectively supported by the set of drones; and
communicating the information pertaining to the one or more e

Assignees

• Anduril Industries Inc

Inventors

• Venkatesh Abhay
• Schimpf Brian W
• Tochip Elston
• Newman Jared
• Bennett Joshua John
• Reddy Nikhil
• Elie Samuel R

Classifications

• G08G5/727

  from a ground station · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• B64U2201/102

  adapted for flying in formations · CPC title

• G08G5/53

  for cruising · CPC title