Unmanned aerial vehicle ad-hoc clustering and collaboration via shared intent and operator discovery

• US 10,013,884 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeLuca, Lisa Seacat, Pickover, Clifford A., Price, Dana L., Quirk, Aaron J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sweeney, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US15/223,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20180033312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 701120
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0017 Arrangements for implementing traffic-related aircraft activities, e.g. arrangements for generating, displaying, acquiring or managing traffic information head-up displays G02B27/01; ground or aircraft-carrier-deck-installations B64F
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/185 Space-based or airborne stations; Stations for satellite systemsH04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Systems and methods for establishing an ad-hoc collaboration between unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are provided. A method includes: configuring intent data of a first UAV using a controller of the first UAV; configuring a collaboration plan for the first UAV and a second UAV based on a determination of a shared intent between the first UAV and the second UAV; executing the collaboration plan by flying the first UAV and gathering data using the first UAV based on the collaboration plan; and sharing the gathered data with an operator of the second UAV.

Claims

1. A method for establishing an ad-hoc collaboration between unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), comprising:

configuring, by a controller of a first UAV, intent data of the first UAV defining a task-oriented intent of a flight of the first UAV;

configuring a collaboration plan for the first UAV and a second UAV based on a determination of a shared intent between the first UAV and the second UAV;

flying, via the controller of the first UAV, the first UAV based on the collaboration plan;

gathering data, using the first UAV, based on the collaboration plan; and

sharing the gathered data with an operator of the second UAV.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting the intent data from the first UAV to the second UAV.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration plan defines respective tasks to be performed by the first UAV and the second UAV.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying flight plan data of the first UAV based on the collaboration plan.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the modifying the flight plan data comprises modifying at least one selected from the group consisting of:

flight area;

flight altitude;

flight speed; and

sensor resolution.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an alert at the controller of the first UAV when the first UAV deviates from the collaboration plan.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a message on a display of the controller of the first UAV based on the collaboration being terminated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sharing the gathered data comprises one of:

transmitting the gathered data from the first UAV to the second UAV;

emailing the gathered data to an email address defined in the collaboration plan;

posting the gathered data to a social media site defined in the collaboration plan; and

posting the gathered data to a data sharing website site defined in the collaboration plan.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration plan is configured based on different capabilities of the first UAV and the second UAV including at least one selected from the group consisting of:

video resolution;

battery capacity;

speed;

camera wavelength-sensitivity;

audio sensitivity; and

safety features.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a non-UAV device to the collaboration, wherein the non-UAV device comprises one of a smartphone, tablet computer, and laptop computer.

11. A system, comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising an on-board computer processor, an on-board computer memory, an on-board wireless communication system, an on-board power source, an on-board propulsion system, and at least one on-board sensor; and

a controller associated with the UAV and comprising a processor, a control program module, a collaboration program module, and input/output system, and a wireless communication system,

wherein the UAV is configured to;

receive an intent message that is broadcast by another UAV;

analyze the intent message to determine a shared intent between the UAV and the other UAV; and

transmit a message to the controller indicating the determination of the shared intent between the UAV and the other UAV.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the analyzing the intent message comprises comparing at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a task category of the UAV to a task category of the other UAV;

a task topic of the UAV to a task topic of the other UAV;

region coordinates of the UAV to region coordinates of the other UAV; and

capabilities of the UAV to capabilities of the other UAV.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the determining the shared intent comprises determining that one or more threshold criteria are satisfied based on the comparing.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the controller associated with the UAV is configured to:

establish a shared intent connection with a controller of the other UAV;

configure a collaboration plan for the UAV and the other UAV based on the shared intent;

execute the collaboration plan; and

share the gathered data with an operator of the other UAV.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the collaboration plan defines respective tasks to be performed by the UAV and the other UAV.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the executing the collaboration plan comprises modifying flight plan data of the UAV based on the collaboration plan.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the modifying the flight plan data comprises modifying at least one selected from the group consisting of:

flight area;

flight altitude;

flight speed; and

data gathering resolution.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the controller associated with the UAV is configured to generate an alert when the UAV deviates from the collaboration plan.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the controller associated with the UAV is configured to display a message based on the collaboration being terminated.

20. A computer program product for establishing an ad-hoc collaboration amongst unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

receive, at a first controller associated with a first UAV, input of intent data defining a task category and a task topic for a first UAV;

transmit the intent data to the first UAV from the first controller;

receive a message from a second controller of a second UAV to establish a connection based on a determination of a shared intent between the first UAV and the second UAV;

receive, at the first controller, input for configuring a collaboration plan for the first UAV and the second UAV, wherein the collaboration plan defines respective tasks to be performed by the first UAV and the second UAV; and

modify flight plan data of the first UAV based on the collaboration plan.