Unmanned aerial vehicle heat sensor calibration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9969486-B1
Application number	US-201615188922-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 21, 2016
Priority date	Jun 21, 2016
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

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 aerial vehicle sensor calibration method, comprising:
landing an aerial vehicle at a delivery destination;
ascending from the delivery destination to a defined altitude;
obtaining image information that includes a representation of at least a portion of the delivery destination;
processing the image information to determine at least one of a size of a heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, a shape of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, a pattern of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, a position of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, an orientation of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, or an intensity of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, wherein the heat signature was produced from at least a portion of the aerial vehicle while the aerial vehicle was landed at the delivery destination;
determining a variation between at least one of the size of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, the shape of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, the pattern of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, the position of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, the orientation of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information, or the intensity of the heat signature at the delivery destination as represented in the image information and an actual size of the heat signature, an actual shape of the heat signature, an actual pattern of the heat signature, an actual position of the heat signature, an actual orientation of the heat signature, or an actual intensity of the heat signature;
determining that the variation is within a tolerance range; and
altering a calibration of at least one sensor of the aerial vehicle based at least in part on the variation; and
continuing a flight of the aerial vehicle away from the delivery destination.

2. The aerial vehicle sensor calibration method of claim 1 , further comprising:
heating a landing gear of the aerial vehicle; and
wherein at least a portion of the heat signature was produced from a heat generated by the landing gear while the aerial vehicle was landed at the delivery destination.

3. The aerial vehicle sensor calibration method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the heat signature was produced from a heat generated by a motor of the aerial vehicle while the aerial vehicle was landed at the delivery destination.

4. The aerial vehicle sensor calibration method of claim 1 , wherein the heat signature includes a plurality of heat signatures, each of the plurality of heat signatures generated from a different component of the aerial vehicle while the aerial vehicle was landed at the delivery destination.

5. An aerial vehicle apparatus, comprising:
a frame;
a sensor coupled to the frame;
an aerial vehicle control system in communication with the sensor and configured to at least:
cause the aerial vehicle to land at a location;
cause the aerial vehicle to ascend from the location to a defined altitude;
cause the sensor to obtain data representative of the location;
process the data to generate processed information that includes information indicative of at least one aspect of a heat signature present at the location as represented in the data;
compare the processed information with actual information corresponding to the heat signature expected to be generated by the aerial vehicle to determine a variation between the processed information and the actual information;
determine if the variation is within a tolerance range; and
in response to a determination that the variation is within the tolerance range, continue an aerial navigation of the aerial vehicle.

6. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the aerial vehicle control system is further configured to at least:
adjust a calibration of the sensor of the aerial vehicle based at least in part on the variation.

7. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the comparison of the processed information with the actual information includes comparing a shape of the heat signature as represented in the processed information with an actual shape of the heat signature to determine a variation of the shape of the heat signature as represented in the data and the actual shape of the heat signature.

8. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the aerial vehicle control system is further configured to at least:
heat a landing gear of the aerial vehicle.

9. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least a portion of the heat signature is generated from a heat generated by the landing gear while the aerial vehicle is landed at the location.

10. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least a portion of the heat signature is generated from a heat from at least one motor of the aerial vehicle.

11. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the aerial vehicle control system is further configured to at least:
prior to the aerial vehicle landing at the location,
cause the aerial vehicle to descend toward the location;
obtain with a second sensor coupled to the aerial vehicle, data representative of the location;
process the data representative of the location to determine at least one of a size of a marker as represented in the data, a shape of the marker as represented in the data, a color of the marker as represented in the data, or a pattern of the marker as represented in the data;
determine a variation between at least one of the size of a marker as represented in the data, the shape of the marker as represented in the data, the color of the marker as represented in the data, or the pattern of the marker as represented in the data and an actual size of the marker, an actual shape of the marker, an actual color of the marker, or an actual pattern of the marker; and
determine that the variation is below a tolerance threshold; and

wherein the aerial vehicle is caused to land at the location in response to a determination that the variation is below the tolerance threshold.

12. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the aerial vehicle control system is further configured to at least:
while the aerial vehicle is at the defined altitude, obtain with a second sensor coupled to the aerial vehicle, data representative of the location, wherein the data is further representative of a payload released at the location.

13. The aerial vehicle apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the aerial vehicle control system is further configured to at least:
process the data representative of the location and the payload to determine at least one of a size of the payload as represented in the data, a shape of the payload as represented in the data, a color of the payload as represented in the data, a pattern of the payload as represented in the data, a size of a label included on the payload as represented in the data, a shape of the label included on the payload as represented in the data, a color of the label included on the payload as represented in the data, or a pattern of the label included on the payload as represented in the data;
determine a variation between at least one of the size of the payload as represented in the data, the shape of the payloa

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• O'Brien Barry James
• Wilcox Scott Michael
• Watson Joshua John

Classifications

• B64C13/20 Primary

  using radiated signals · CPC title

• B64U2201/104

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

• B64C2201/145

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G06K9/6202

  Physics · mapped topic

• B64C2201/128

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic