Detecting of navigation data spoofing based on sensor data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9849978-B1
Application number	US-201514866706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 25, 2015
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for determining whether data associated with an autonomous operation of an unmanned vehicle may be trusted. For example, a first set of data may be provided from a source external to the unmanned vehicle. A second set of data may be accessed. This second set may be provided from a source internal to the unmanned vehicle and may be associated with the same autonomous operation. The two sets may be compared to determine whether the first set of data may be trusted or not. If untrusted, the autonomous navigation may be directed based on the second set of data and independently of the first set.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a computer system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), global positioning system (GPS) data, the computer system configured to direct a flight of the UAV to deliver an item from a source to a destination based at least in part on the GPS data;
receiving, by the computer system from one or more sensors of the UAV, sensor data associated with the flight, the one or more sensors having respective accuracies;
determining, by the computer system, a discrepancy between the GPS data and the sensor data;
detecting, by the computer system, that the discrepancy exceeds a threshold, the threshold defined based at least in part on an aggregation of the accuracies;
determining, by the computer system, that the GPS data is spoofed based at least in part on the discrepancy exceeding the threshold; and
directing, by the computer system, a portion of the flight based at least in part on the sensor data and independently of the GPS data that is spoofed.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of: an altitude of the UAV or a cardinal direction of the UAV, and wherein the discrepancy comprises a mismatch between the GPS data and the at least one of: the altitude or the cardinal direction.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the discrepancy comprises:
tracking, by the computer system, a state of the flight based at least in part on the sensor data; and
determining, by the computer system, that the GPS data is inconsistent with the state of the flight.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computer system, additional sensor data and additional GPS data based at least in part on the portion of the flight being completed;
detecting, by the computer system, that the additional sensor data and the additional GPS data are consistent based at least in part on the threshold; and
directing, by the computer system, a remainder of the flight to the destination or to the source by using the additional GPS data based at least in part on the additional sensor data and the additional GPS data being consistent.

5. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed with a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:
perform a calibration of a sensor of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based at least in part on an environmental condition;
access external navigation data of a source external to the UAV, the external navigation data associated with directing an autonomous navigation of the UAV;
access internal navigation data of the sensor of the UAV;
determine that the external navigation data is untrusted based at least in part on a comparison of a threshold and a discrepancy between the external navigation data and the internal navigation data, the threshold defined based at least in part on the calibration of the sensor; and
direct the autonomous navigation of the UAV independently of the external navigation data based at least in part on the external navigation data being untrusted.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 5 , wherein the UAV is configured to deliver an item available from an electronic marketplace, wherein the source external to the UAV comprises a global positioning system (GPS).

7. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 5 , wherein the source external to the UAV comprises at least one of: a satellite-based navigation system or a terrestrial wireless network, and wherein the internal navigation data comprises at least one of: an altitude, a cardinal direction, a speed, or an acceleration.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 5 , wherein determining that the external navigation data is untrusted comprises determining that the discrepancy between the external navigation data and the internal navigation data exceeds the threshold, wherein the threshold is further defined based at least in part on accuracy of the sensor.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 5 , wherein the external navigation data is received by the computer system when the UAV is located within an area, wherein determining that the external navigation data is untrusted comprises determining that the discrepancy between the external navigation data and the internal navigation data exceeds the threshold, and wherein the threshold is further defined based at least in part on a report from another UAV of untrusted navigation data within the area.

10. A system associated with an unmanned vehicle, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed with the one or more processors, cause the system to at least:
access external navigation data of a source external to the unmanned vehicle that is configured to deliver an item, the external navigation data associated with directing an autonomous navigation of the unmanned vehicle;
access internal navigation data of a source internal to the unmanned vehicle;
determine that the external navigation data is untrusted based at least in part on a comparison of a threshold and a discrepancy between the external navigation data and the internal navigation data, the comparison indicating that the discrepancy exceeds the threshold, the threshold defined based at least in part on historical item deliveries of the unmanned vehicle; and
generate a corrective action associated with directing the autonomous navigation of the unmanned vehicle independently of the external navigation data that is untrusted.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the corrective action comprises:
directing the autonomous navigation to use the internal navigation data instead of the external navigation data until the unmanned vehicle enters an idle state; and
reporting the idle state to a central station.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the external navigation data is determined to be untrusted in association with a location of the unmanned vehicle, and wherein the corrective action comprises:
directing the unmanned vehicle to navigate to a different location without using the external navigation data; and
upon a detection that the external navigation data is trusted at the different location, directing the unmanned vehicle to resume using the external navigation data.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the corrective action comprises:
reporting that the external navigation data is untrusted to a central station; and
facilitating remote navigation of the unmanned vehicle from the central station.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the external navigation data is determined to be untrusted in association with a location of the unmanned vehicle, and wherein the corrective action comprises sending an identifier of the location to a central station to cause the central station to generate a map identifying the location as being untrusted.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the corrective action comprises confirming that the external navigation data is untrusted based at least in part on maintaining a location of the unmanned vehicle and detecting that the external navigation data changes over time while the location is maintained.

16. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed with a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:
access external navigation data of a source external t

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Carmack Scott Gerard
• Lakkakula Narasimha Rao
• Sharifi Mehr Nima

Classifications

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B64C2201/145

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64C2201/024

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G01C21/20 Primary

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title

• B64C39/024 Primary

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