Survey migration system for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12558981-B2
Application number	US-202318386209-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2023
Priority date	Feb 11, 2015
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

A method of migrating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations between geographic survey areas, including: uploading a first plurality of flight missions into a first UAV pod; deploying the UAV pod; autonomously launching the UAV from the UAV pod a plurality of times to perform the first plurality of flight missions; providing first survey data from the UAV to the UAV pod; autonomously migrating the UAV from the first UAV pod to a second UAV pod; receiving a second plurality of flight missions in a second UAV pod; providing the UAV with one of the second plurality of flight missions from the second UAV pod; autonomously launching the UAV from the second UAV pod a plurality of times to perform the second plurality of flight missions; and providing a second survey data from the UAV to the second UAV pod; where the autonomous migrating of the UAV to accomplish the first and second survey data happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of migrating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations between geographic survey areas, comprising:
receiving a first plurality of flight missions into a UAV; deploying the UAV in a first geographic survey area; autonomously launching the UAV in the first geographic survey area a first plurality of times to perform the first plurality of flight missions, wherein the UAV images the first geographic survey area a second plurality of times during a deployment period of the UAV in the first geographic survey area; providing first survey data from the UAV; and autonomously migrating the UAV from the first geographic survey area to a second geographic survey area, wherein the autonomous migrating of the UAV to accomplish the first survey data happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first geographic survey area comprises at least one agricultural field in at least one crop phase, wherein the crop phase is at least one of: a planting phase, an emergence phase, a growth phase, a harvest phase, and a clean-up phase, and wherein the provided first survey data relates to the at least one crop phase.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UAV is autonomously launched out of a UAV pod in the first geographic survey area the first plurality of times to perform the first plurality of flight missions.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
autonomously landing the UAV in the first geographic survey area a plurality of times after each of the performed first plurality of flight missions.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second plurality of flight missions into the UAV; providing the UAV with one of the second plurality of flight missions; autonomously launching the UAV in the second geographic survey area a plurality of times to perform the second plurality of flight missions; and providing a second survey data from the UAV; wherein the autonomous migrating of the UAV to accomplish the first and second survey data happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
processing, by a first processor of the UAV, the provided first survey data, wherein the processing comprises at least one of: converting the provided first survey data into one or more viewable images with accompanying geospatial location and stitching the one or more images into an orthomosaic.

7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
charging a battery of the UAV in the first geographic survey area; and
charging the battery of the UAV in the second geographic survey area.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first plurality of flight missions comprises dropping a payload by the UAV.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first plurality of flight missions comprises loitering the UAV over an event of interest.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining a UAV battery power level during the first plurality of flight missions; and
autonomously re-routing the UAV to a landing location in the first geographic survey area if the determined UAV battery power level drops below a predetermined voltage threshold.

11 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
performing data analysis of the first and second survey data; and providing the data analysis to a customer.

12 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
storing the provided first survey data in a UAV memory in the first geographic survey area; and storing the provided second survey data in the UAV memory in the second geographic survey area.

13 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by a first weather sensor in the first geographic survey area in communication with a processor of the UAV, a flight decision based on a measurement of the external environment prior to each autonomous launch of the UAV in the first geographic survey area; determining, by a second weather sensor in the second geographic survey area in communication with the processor of the UAV, a flight decision based on a measurement of the external environment prior to each autonomous launch of the UAV in the second geographic survey area; autonomously landing the UAV in the first geographic survey area a plurality of times after each of the performed first plurality of flight missions; autonomously landing the UAV in the second geographic survey area a plurality of times after each of the performed second plurality of flight missions; and autonomously routing the UAV to a local area network (LAN) for wireless transmission of at least one of: the first survey data and the second survey data by a transceiver of the UAV.

14 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
uploading a third plurality of flight missions into the UAV; autonomously launching a second UAV from the first geographic survey area a plurality of times to perform the third plurality of flight missions; providing third survey data from the second UAV; autonomously migrating the second UAV from the first geographic survey area to the second geographic survey area; receiving a fourth plurality of flight missions in the second geographic survey area; providing the second UAV with one of the fourth plurality of flight missions from the second geographic survey area; autonomously launching the second UAV from the second geographic survey area a plurality of times to perform the fourth plurality of flight missions; and providing a fourth survey data from the second UAV; wherein the autonomous migrating of the second UAV to accomplish the third and fourth survey data happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

15 . An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveying system comprising:
a first geographic survey area; a second geographic survey area; a UAV having a UAV processor, wherein the UAV processor is configured to:
receive one or more flight missions in the first geographic survey area;
provide flight survey data from the received one or more flight missions in the first geographic survey area;
migrate the UAV from the first geographic survey area to the second geographic survey area; and
convert the provided flight survey data into one or more viewable images with accompanying geospatial location; and
stitch the one or more viewable images into an orthomosaic.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the first geographic survey area comprises at least one agricultural field in at least one crop phase; wherein the crop phase is at least one of: a planting phase, an emergence phase, a growth phase, a harvest phase, and a clean-up phase; and wherein the provided flight survey data in the first geographic survey area relates to the at least one crop phase.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to: autonomously launch the UAV out of a UAV pod in the first geographic survey area a first plurality of times.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to: autonomously land the UAV in the first geographic survey area a plurality of times after each of the performed first plurality of flight missions.

19 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the UAV processor is further configured to:
receive one or more flight missions in the second geographic survey area; and provide flight survey data from the received one or more flight missions in the second geographic survey area.

Assignees

• Aerovironment Inc

Inventors

• Fisher Christopher Eugene
• Mukherjee Jason Sidharthadev
• Lott William Arden
• Aagaard Eric James

Classifications

• G06T11/60

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title

• B64F1/222

  for storing aircraft, e.g. in hangars · CPC title

• B64D1/02

  Dropping, ejecting, or releasing articles (jettisonable fuel reservoirs B64D37/12) · CPC title

• B64C29/02

  having its flight directional axis vertical when grounded · CPC title

• B60L2200/10

  Air crafts · CPC title