Marker based smart landing pad

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022242589-A1
Application number	US-202117212685-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 25, 2021
Priority date	Feb 1, 2021
Publication date	Aug 4, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A smart landing pad comprises a flexible display that shows images or patterns, and a protective layer over the display. The protective layer allows a UAV to land without damaging the display. Locator and range finder devices, coupled to the display, communicate with the UAV. The display is operative for wireless communications with a computer or mobile device that provides on-demand user functions, allowing for dynamically changing or customizing the images/patterns shown on the display. The images/patterns comprise a background area showing changeable images that match an environment where the landing pad is placed, and a target landing area surrounded by the background area. The target landing area includes a changeable insensitive, contrast portion, and changeable marker pattern portions having changeable colors/shapes. The images/patterns also include changeable QR codes on the target landing area. The display is IoT enabled so that data from the landing pad is remotely cloud accessible.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A smart landing pad, comprising:
a flexible display including a display surface configured to show one or more images or patterns; a protective layer over the display surface, wherein the protective layer is configured to allow an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to land on the smart landing pad without damaging the flexible display; one or more locator and range finder devices operatively coupled to the flexible display and operative to communicate with the UAV, such that the flexible display is self-locatable based on a three-dimensional location communicated to the UAV during a landing approach; and one or more communication devices operatively coupled to the flexible display and operative for wireless communications with a computer or mobile computational device that is operative to provide on-demand user functions, which allow for dynamically changing or customizing in real time the one or more images or patterns that are shown on the display surface; wherein the one or more images or patterns comprise:
a background area configurable to show changeable images that match an environment where the smart landing pad is placed for use as a landing site for the UAV;
a target landing area that is surrounded by the background area, the target landing area including:
a changeable insensitive, contrast portion that allows the target landing area to be more recognizable from the UAV under bright light, in darkness at nighttime, or due to poor visibility from inclement weather or dusty environmental conditions; and
one or more changeable marker pattern portions having changeable colors and/or shapes that provide for ease of pattern recognition from the UAV; and

one or more changeable quick response (QR) codes on the target landing area, the one or more QR codes operative as fiducial points or for communications;
wherein the flexible display is Internet of things (IoT) enabled so that data from the smart landing pad is remotely cloud accessible, allowing the data to be changed, logged, or processed.

2 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display is rollable, conformable, foldable, or shapeable.

3 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display comprises a flexible organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) display, or a flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.

4 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer is configured to be water resistant and dust resistant.

5 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer comprises a coated hard material.

6 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer comprises a layer of tempered glass or an acrylic sheet.

7 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display is mounted on a flexible backing layer, which is configured to provide protection for the flexible display when placed on the ground where the UAV is to land.

8 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the flexible backing layer comprises a flexible polymer material.

9 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the one or more locator and range finder devices are embedded in the flexible display and comprise:
a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device operative to provide latitude/longitude/altitude (LLA) data for the flexible display when placed at a landing site; a laser range finder operative to detect a proximity of the UAV with respect to the flexible display during a descent of the UAV toward the landing site; and a long range (LoRa) communication and ranging device embedded in the flexible display and operative to provide distance measurements to determine a proximity and altitude from the UAV to the flexible display during a descent of the UAV toward the landing site.

10 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the one or more communication devices are embedded in the flexible display and comprise:
a short range device configured to provide a WiFi connection or a Bluetooth connection; and a cloud connection device configured to provide a Long Term Evolution (LTE) cloud connection.

11 . The smart landing pad of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display is configured with a proprietary data communication channel that is operative to relay location data of the smart landing pad to the UAV.

12 . A method comprising:
placing a smart landing pad at a landing site location for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the smart landing pad comprising:
a flexible display including a display surface configured to show one or more images or patterns;
one or more locator and range finder devices operatively coupled to the flexible display and operative to communicate with the UAV; and
one or more communication devices operatively coupled to the flexible display and operative for wireless communications with a computer or mobile computational device that is operative to provide on-demand user functions, which allow for dynamically changing or customizing in real time the one or more images or patterns that are shown on the display surface;
wherein the flexible display is Internet of things (IoT) enabled so that data from the smart landing pad is remotely cloud accessible; receiving, at the smart landing pad, a landing request signal issued by the UAV; broadcasting the landing site location and data from the smart landing pad to the UAV;
computing, in the UAV, an angle of arrival and distance to the smart landing pad based on the landing site location and data; and initiating a descent process of the UAV toward the smart landing pad during which the UAV captures images of the smart landing pad, scans quick response (QR) codes shown on the display surface, and begins a fiducial-based navigation landing process for landing the UAV on the smart landing pad.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the UAV includes a sensor payload configured to allow the UAV to track and communicate with the smart landing pad.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the sensor payload comprises one or more of an image capturing device, a laser range sensor, a proximity sensor, or a long range (LoRa) and time of flight (ToF) range sensing device.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more images or patterns comprise:
a background area configurable to show changeable images that match an environment where the smart landing pad is placed; a target landing area that is surrounded by the background area, the target landing area including:
a changeable insensitive, contrast portion that allows the target landing area to be more recognizable from the UAV under bright light, in darkness at nighttime, or due to poor visibility from inclement weather or dusty environmental conditions; and
one or more changeable marker pattern portions having changeable colors and/or shapes that provide for ease of pattern recognition from the UAV; and
the one or more QR codes are shown on the target landing area.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the flexible display comprises a flexible organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) display, or a flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the smart landing pad further comprises:
a protective layer over the display surface, wherein the protective layer is configured to allow the UAV to land on the smart landing pad without damaging the flexible display.

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more locator and range finder devices are embedded in the flexible display and comprise:
a Global Navi

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Pham Hai
• Bindu Jyothikumar Arjun
• Edara Thandava Krishna
• Pardoe Nikolas
• Fleishman Samuel Elliott
• Bangura Moses
• Jacob Mohan Pulikkottil
• Jahagirdar Manik
• Venkataraman Vijay
• Srivastava Romi

Classifications

• B64F1/20 Primary

  Arrangement of optical beacons · CPC title

• B64D45/08

  optical · CPC title

• B64F1/007

  Helicopter portable landing pads · CPC title

• G01S5/02585

  at least one of the measurements being a non-radio measurement · CPC title

• G01S1/24

  the synchronised signals being pulses or equivalent modulations on carrier waves and the transit times being compared by measuring the difference in arrival time of a significant part of the modulations {, e.g. LORAN systems} · CPC title