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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977435-B2
Application number	US-201615040985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2016
Priority date	Feb 11, 2015
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

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. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveying system comprising:
a first region having one or more UAV pods;
a second region having one or more UAV pods;
a UAV having a UAV processor, wherein the UAV processor is configured to:
receive one or more flight missions from a UAV pod in the first region;
provide flight survey data from the received one or more flight missions to the UAV pod in the first region;
migrate the UAV from the UAV pod in the first region to a UAV pod in the second region;
receive one or more flight missions from the UAV pod in the second region; and
provide flight survey data from the received one or more flight missions to the UAV pod in the second region.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the UAV is a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the received one or more flight missions includes at least one of: waypoints, altitude, flight speed, sensor suite configuration data, launch time, launch day, and mission sensor go and no-go parameters.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a first transceiver of the UAV; and
a second transceiver of the UAV pod in the first region; and

a third transceiver of the UAV pod in the second region;
wherein the provided flight survey data from the one or more flight missions in the first region is sent by the first transceiver of the UAV and received by the second transceiver of the UAV pod in the first region; and

wherein the provided flight survey data from the one or more flight missions in the second region is sent by the first transceiver of the UAV and received by the third transceiver of the UAV pod in the second region.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a weather sensor in communication with a processor of the UAV pod in the first region; wherein the processor of the UAV pod in the first region determines a UAV flight decision based on a measurement of the external environment by the weather sensor prior to each launch of the UAV from the UAV pod in the first region.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the migration of the UAV from the UAV pod in the first region to the UAV pod in the second region happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the first region and the second region comprise disparate geographic areas.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the UAV is migrated from the UAV pod in the first region to the UAV pod in the second region to receive the one or more flight missions from the UAV pod in the second region.

9. A method of migrating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations between geographic survey areas, comprising:
launching, from a first location, a UAV having a portable UAV pod, wherein the portable UAV pod is attached to the UAV at launch;
flying the UAV having the portable UAV pod to a second location;
landing the UAV having the portable UAV pod at the second location; and
detaching the UAV from the UAV pod.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the portable UAV pod folds up after launching and unfolds prior to landing.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the portable UAV pod comprises one or more solar panels for charging the UAV.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
charging a battery of the UAV in the first UAV pod prior to launch.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
determining, by a weather sensor in communication with a processor of the UAV pod, a flight decision based on a measurement of the external environment by the weather sensor prior to launching the UAV from the first location.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein flying the UAV having the portable UAV pod to the second location happens autonomously and without active human intervention.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the portable UAV pod is detachably attached to the UAV at launch.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the portable UAV pod houses and protects the UAV.

17. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
folding one or more portions of the UAV pod during flight to the second location.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:
unfolding one or more portions of the UAV pod during flight to the second location.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:
unfolding one or more portions of the UAV pod prior to landing at the second location.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the one or more portions of the UAV pod comprise one or more solar panels.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
charging the UAV pod via the one or more solar panels.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
charging the UAV via the one or more solar panels.

23. The method of claim 9 wherein the portable UAV pod is transported by the UAV.

24. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
landing a second UAV on the detached UAV pod.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:
providing at least one of: power, data processing, and data transmission to the landed second UAV via the detached UAV pod.

Assignees

• Aerovironment Inc
• Aeroviroment Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• B64U2101/30

  for imaging, photography or videography · CPC title

• B64U80/70

  in containers (B64U80/60 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title

• B64C2201/127

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic