Unmanned aerial vehicle sensor calibration as part of departure from a materials handling facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9823089-B1
Application number	US-201615188917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 21, 2016
Priority date	Jun 21, 2016
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for automating the verification of aerial vehicle sensors as part of a pre-flight, flight departure, in-transit flight, and/or delivery destination calibration verification process. At different stages, aerial vehicle sensors may obtain sensor measurements about objects within an environment, the obtained measurements may be processed to determine information about the object, as presented in the measurements, and the processed information may be compared with the actual information about the object to determine a variation or difference between the information. If the variation is within a tolerance range, the sensor may be auto adjusted and operation of the aerial vehicle may continue. If the variation exceeds a correction range, flight of the aerial vehicle may be aborted and the aerial vehicle routed for a full sensor calibration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight departure verification apparatus comprising:
a channel through which a UAV aerially navigates as the UAV is departing a materials handling facility;
a plurality of sensors positioned within the channel and configured to obtain information about the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel, the plurality of sensors including:
a microphone positioned within the channel and configured to receive sound generated by the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel;
a camera positioned within the channel and configured to form a plurality of images, each of the plurality of images including a representation of the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel; and
a distance determining element configured to determine a distance between the distance determining element and the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel;

an aerial vehicle management system in communication with each of the plurality of sensors and in communication with the UAV, the aerial vehicle management system configured to at least:
receive channel information, the channel information including:
the sound received from the microphone;
the plurality of images formed by the camera; and
distance information representative of the distance determined by the distance determining element;

receive from the UAV, UAV information, the UAV information including at least one of:
revolution per minute (“RPM”) information corresponding to a motor of the UAV;
altitude information corresponding to an altitude of the UAV;
position information corresponding to a position of the UAV;
pose information corresponding to a pose of the UAV;
heading information corresponding to a heading of the UAV; or
velocity information corresponding to a velocity of the UAV;

process the channel information and the UAV information to determine a plurality of variations between the channel information and the UAV information;
determine that each of the plurality of variations are within a respective tolerance range; and
for each of the plurality of variations, provide correction information to the UAV to alter a calibration of a respective sensor of the UAV, wherein the correction information is based at least in part on the variation.

2. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include an RPM variation, the RPM variation determined based at least in part on the RPM information corresponding to the motor of the UAV as received from the UAV and an actual RPM determined based at least in part on a processing of the plurality of images; and
the RPM variation corresponds to a difference between the RPM information and the actual RPM.

3. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include an altitude variation, the altitude variation determined based at least in part on the altitude information received from the UAV and an actual altitude of the UAV determined based at least in part on the distance information; and
the altitude variation corresponds to a difference between the altitude information received from the UAV and the actual altitude.

4. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include a position variation, the position variation determined based at least in part on the position information received from the UAV and an actual position of the UAV determined based at least in part on a processing of the plurality of images or based at least in part on the distance information; and
the position variation corresponds to a difference between the position information received from the UAV and the actual position.

5. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include a pose variation, the pose variation determined based at least in part on the pose information received from the UAV and an actual pose of the UAV determined based at least in part on a processing of the plurality of images; and
the pose variation corresponds to a difference between the pose information received from the UAV and the actual pose of the UAV.

6. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include a heading variation, the heading variation determined based at least in part on the heading information received from the UAV and an actual heading of the UAV determined based at least in part on a processing of the plurality of images; and
the heading variation corresponds to a difference between the heading information received from the UAV and the actual heading.

7. The UAV flight departure verification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of variations include a velocity variation, the velocity variation determined based at least in part on the velocity information received from the UAV and an actual velocity of the UAV determined based at least in part on a processing of the plurality of images; and
the velocity variation corresponds to a difference between the velocity information received from the UAV and the actual velocity.

8. An unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) sensor calibration method, comprising:
detecting a UAV aerially navigating through a channel;
collecting, with a plurality of sensors positioned within the channel, channel information that includes at least one of:
an actual position of the UAV within the channel,
a plurality of images, each of the plurality of images including a representation of the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel; or
a sound generated by the UAV as the UAV aerially navigates through the channel;

receiving from the UAV, UAV information, the UAV information including information recorded by one or more of a plurality of sensors coupled to the UAV;
processing the channel information and the UAV information to determine a variation between the channel information and the UAV information;
determining that the variation is within a tolerance range; and
authorizing the UAV to continue a flight toward a destination.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the variation is within a tolerance range, providing correction information to the UAV to alter a calibration of at least one sensor, wherein the correction information is based at least in part on the variation.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that the variation does not exceed a correction threshold.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the variation indicates a difference between the channel information and the UAV information.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving from the UAV, image information representative of an image formed by a camera coupled to the UAV as the UAV is aerially navigating through the channel, the image including a representation of at least a portion of the channel; and
processing the image information to determine an image variation between the at least a portion of the channel as represented in the image and an actual at least a portion of the channel.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the actual at least a portion of the channel includes a marker having a known shape, a known size, and a known color.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining that the image variation is within an image tolerance range; and
allowing the UAV to continue a flight toward a destination.

15. An aerial vehicle calibration system, comprising:
a channel thro

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Wilcox Scott Michael
• Busek Naimisaranya Das
• Decker Trevor Josph Myslinski
• Regner Michael William

Classifications

• G01C25/00 Primary

  Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass (testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38) · CPC title

• G01C21/005

  with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching (G01C21/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• G01C11/00

  Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title