Systems and methods for drone marking of airborne materials
First Claim
1. An unmanned aerial vehicle for marking airborne materials in a plume, the vehicle comprising:
- a sensor that detects a substance of interest within the plume;
a tracer storage unit that holds a plurality of different tracer materials;
a tracer dispenser that ejects a selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials into the plume, wherein one or more properties of the selected tracer material change in response to the substance of interest within the plume; and
a control unit that instructs the tracer dispenser to eject the selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials in response to detecting the substance of interest within the plume as the unmanned aerial vehicle flies by the plume, wherein ejection of the selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials is based on the detected substance of interest within the plume.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle may be used to mark airborne material in a plume. The unmanned aerial vehicle may store a macroscopic and/or microscopic tracer material. A sensor and/or control unit may detect a substance of interest in a plume. The sensor may be configured to detect multiple different substances sharing a particular characteristic. The unmanned aerial vehicle may be piloted along a gradient of increasing concentration of the substance of interest. The tracer material may be ejected into the plume. The tracer material may be configured to react and/or interact with the substance of interest. The unmanned aerial vehicle may be piloted a predetermined distance from the plume after the tracer material has been ejected. Additional and/or different tracer material may be ejected into the plume if it is determined from measurements that ejecting additional tracer material would be beneficial.
37 Citations
37 Claims
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1. An unmanned aerial vehicle for marking airborne materials in a plume, the vehicle comprising:
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a sensor that detects a substance of interest within the plume; a tracer storage unit that holds a plurality of different tracer materials; a tracer dispenser that ejects a selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials into the plume, wherein one or more properties of the selected tracer material change in response to the substance of interest within the plume; and a control unit that instructs the tracer dispenser to eject the selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials in response to detecting the substance of interest within the plume as the unmanned aerial vehicle flies by the plume, wherein ejection of the selected one of the plurality of different tracer materials is based on the detected substance of interest within the plume. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for marking airborne materials in a plume, the method comprising:
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storing a plurality of different tracer materials in an unmanned aerial vehicle;
wherein the vehicle comprising a sensor;
a tracer storage unit that holds the plurality of different tracer materials;
a tracer dispenser, and a control unit;detecting a substance of interest within the plume; ejecting a selected one of the plurality of tracer materials into the plume, wherein one or more properties of the selected tracer material change in response to the substance of interest within the plume; instructing the tracer dispenser to eject the selected one of the plurality of the tracer materials in response to detecting the substance of interest within the plume as the unmanned aerial vehicle flies by the plume, wherein ejection of the selected one of the plurality of tracer materials is based on the detected substance of interest within the plume. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification