Relocation based coverage area enhancement system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12371138-B2
Application number	US-202217826989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2022
Priority date	May 27, 2022
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

A system includes: a platform; a payload extending from a platform; an adjustable tether connecting the payload to the platform; and a sail extending from the payload. The system further includes a computer program that is executable to relocate the platform to the area of interest based on a threshold based decision which may include providing a tether and sail configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a payload extending from a platform;
an adjustable tether connecting the payload to the platform;
a sail extending from the payload; and
a computing device comprising a processor configured to:
estimate an energy expended to move the payload to an area of interest;
estimate an energy expended to move to a location which covers the area of interest with a certain sweep of the payload;
estimate an energy expended to perform the certain sweep given known environmental conditions;
perform a threshold based decision using the estimates; and
relocate the platform to the area of interest based on the threshold based decision.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the payload comprises a sensor.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a pulley system configured to adjust a length of the tether and an adjustable shaft connecting to the sail.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sail is configured to furl and unfurl to decrease and increase a surface area, respectively, of the sail.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to control an area of coverage of the payload.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to estimate a tether and sail configuration which involves a sequence of movements at all degrees of freedom.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to deploy the tether and sail configuration based on the estimate of the tether and sail configuration.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold based decision comprises:
If: E full-relocate −E sweep >ThresholdForSweeping: Perform sweep-only;
ElseIf: E full-relocate −E partial-relocate +E sweep >ThresholdForHybrid: Perform partial-relocate+sweep;
ElseIf: E full-relocate −E sweep >ThresholdForRelocate: Perform full-relocate; and
Else: Ask peer platforms to perform relocate and sweep,
wherein E full-relocate is the energy expended to move the payload to the area of interest, E partial-relocate is the energy expended to move to the location which covers the area of interest with a certain designed sweep, and E sweep is the energy expended to perform the sweep given certain environmental conditions and by applying a particular model to estimate an aggregate sweep area of the payload.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the particular model includes a sail model and a geometric model of a sweep movement of the tether.

10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising providing a multi-modal situation picture of a desired coverage which is fed back into the computing device and used to provide the estimates.

11. A method comprising:
estimating, by a computing device, an energy expended to move a payload to an area of interest, wherein the payload extends from a platform;
estimating, by the computing device, an energy expended to move to a location which covers the area of interest with a certain sweep of the payload;
estimating, by the computing device, an energy expended to perform the certain sweep given known environmental conditions;
performing, by the computing device, a threshold based decision using the estimates; and
relocating, by the computing device, the platform to the area of interest based on the threshold based decision.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising estimating, by the computing device, a tether and sail configuration which involves a sequence of movements at all degrees of freedom.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising deploying the tether and sail configuration based on the estimate of the tether and sail configuration.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold based decision comprises:
If: E full-relocate −E sweep >ThresholdForSweeping: Perform sweep-only;
ElseIf: E full-relocate −E partial-relocate +E sweep >ThresholdForHybrid: Perform partial-relocate+sweep;
ElseIf: E full-relocate −E sweep >ThresholdForRelocate: Perform full-relocate; and
Else: Ask peer platforms to perform relocate and sweep,
wherein E full-relocate is the energy expended to move to the area of interest, E partial-relocate is the energy expended to move to the location which covers the area of interest with a certain designed sweep, and E sweep is the energy expended to perform the sweep given certain environmental conditions and by applying a model to estimate an aggregate sweep area of the payload.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the model includes a sail model and a geometric model of a sweep movement of a tether.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising providing multi-modal situation picture of a desired coverage which is fed back into the computing device and used to provide the estimates.

17. A system comprising:
a relocation based coverage area enhancement system comprising a payload attached to a platform; and
a processor, a computer readable memory, one or more computer readable storage media, and program instructions collectively stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions executable to:
estimate an energy expended to move a payload of the relocation based coverage area enhancement system to an area of interest;
estimate an energy expended to move the relocation based coverage area enhancement system to a location that covers the area of interest with a certain sweep of the payload;
estimate an energy expended to perform the certain sweep given known environmental conditions; and
relocate the payload to the area of interest based on the estimates.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the relocation based coverage area enhancement system comprising a configurable sail attached to a retractable tether, the payload being attached to the retractable tether.

Assignees

• Kyndryl Inc

Inventors

• Miles Caleb
• Kwatra Shikhar
• Ekambaram Vijay
• Seshadri Padmanabha Venkatagiri

Classifications

• G05D2109/27

  with flexible wings, e.g. paragliders, kites or hang gliders · CPC title

• G05D1/461

  for unpowered vehicles, e.g. gliders or parachutes · CPC title

• B63B79/10 Primary

  using sensors, e.g. pressure sensors, strain gauges or accelerometers · CPC title

• B63H9/072 Primary

  Control arrangements, e.g. for launching or recovery · CPC title