Aerial communication framework for providing communication services to users trapped in emergency

• US 10,178,538 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2018
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technological Group Limited
• Original Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Panigrahi, Bighnaraj, Rath, Hemant Kumar, Misra, Prasant Kumar, Simha, Anantha, Ranjan, Alok
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US15/920,722
• Time in Patent Office: 300 Days
• Field of Search: 4554042
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/044 based on the type of the allocated resource
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure is related to a system and method for providing aerial communication services to users trapped in disaster conditions and need immediate attention. It includes an UAV mounted with a central base station to establish communication services with each communication equipment by modeling of an emergency communication network. It analyzes utility function of criticalities to assure an efficient resource allocation mechanism where critical users get preference over non-critical users. The users can be in a critical state either due to low remaining energy of at least one communication equipment of the one or more users or because of the criticality due to their physical surroundings and data rate component to ensure throughput for the communication services. An assisted global positioning system (A-GPS) is being used for obtaining information of physical criticality of the users distributed over a geographical area.

Claims

1. An aerial communication system (100) for providing communication services to one or more users distributed over a geographical area, the aerial communication system (100) comprising:

a memory (102) with a set of instructions;

a processor (104), wherein the processor (104) communicatively coupled with the memory (102);

a utility analysis module (106) configured to analyze a utility function of one or more criticalities of the one or more users to score critical state of each user, wherein the one or more criticalities of the user includes a low remaining energy of at least one communication equipment of the user, a physical surrounding of the each user and a data rate component to ensure throughput for the communication services with the at least one communication equipment;

a priority decision module (108) configured to prioritize the one or more users based on the score of utility function of the one or more users;

a scheduling module (110) configured to optimize a network performance based on the result of the utility analysis module and to allocate resource blocks to at least one communication equipment of the one or more users based on output of the priority decision module (108);

a quality collection module (112) configured to collect a channel quality indicator information from each communication equipment of the one or more users; and

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (116) mounted with a central base station (114), wherein the central base station (114) is configured for scheduling communication services to establish communication with at least one communication equipment of the one or more users based on the collected a channel quality indicator information and output of the priority decision module (108).

2. The aerial communication system (100) of claim 1, wherein the aerial communication system (100) to be used to establish communication with one or more users trapped over the geographical area in critical conditions and at least one user needs immediate attention.

3. The aerial communication system (100) of claim 1, further comprising an assisted global positioning system (A-GPS) to obtain information of physical criticality of the one or more users distributed over the geographical area.

4. The aerial communication system (100) of claim 1, wherein the one or more users trapped in the geographical area are in semi-static position without much movements in a short frame of time.

5. The aerial communication system (100) of claim 1, wherein at least one critical user get preference over non-critical users, wherein the criticality is determined based on score of utility function of each user.

6. A computer implemented method (200) for providing aerial communication services to one or more users distributed over a geographical area, the method comprising:

analyzing a utility function of each user to score critical state of each user using an utility analysis module (106), wherein the utility function of each user comprising at least one criticality of one or more criticalities to each user, wherein the one or more criticalities to at least one user include a low remaining energy of at least one communication equipment of the user, a physical surroundings of the user and a data rate component to ensure throughput for the communication services with the at least one communication equipment of the user;

prioritizing one or more users based on the score of utility function of each user using a priority decision module (108);

optimizing a network performance using a scheduling module (110) for allocating resource blocks to at least one user of one or more users based on priority;

collecting a channel quality indicator information from at least one communication equipment of the one or more users using a quality collection module (112); and

providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (116) mounted with a central base station (114) for providing communication services to one or more users distributed over a geographical area, wherein the central base station (114) is configured for scheduling services to communicate with at least one communication equipment based on the collected channel quality indicator information and output of the priority decision module (108).

7. The method (200) of claim 6, wherein an assisted global positioning system (A-GPS) is used for obtaining information of physical criticality of the one or more users distributed over a geographical area.

8. The method (200) of claim 6, wherein the one or more users trapped over the geographical area are in semi-static without much movements in a short frame of time.

9. The method (200) of claim 6, wherein at least one critical user get preference over non-critical users, wherein the criticality is determined based on score of utility function of each user.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instructions for providing aerial communication services to one or more users distributed over a geographical area, wherein the one or more instructions comprising:

analyzing a utility function of each user to score critical state of each user using an utility analysis module (106), wherein the utility function of each user comprising at least one criticality of one or more criticalities to each user, wherein the one or more criticalities to at least one user include a low remaining energy of at least one communication equipment of the user, a physical surroundings of the user and a data rate component to ensure throughput for the communication services with the at least one communication equipment of the user;

prioritizing one or more users based on the score of utility function of each user using a priority decision module (108);

optimizing a network performance using a scheduling module (110) for allocating resource blocks to at least one user of one or more users based on priority;

collecting a channel quality indicator information from at least one communication equipment of the one or more users using a quality collection module (112); and

providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (116) mounted with a central base station (114) for providing communication services to one or more users distributed over a geographical area, wherein the central base station (114) is configured for scheduling services to communicate with at least one communication equipment based on the collected channel quality indicator information and output of the priority decision module (108).

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein an assisted global positioning system (A-GPS) is used for obtaining information of physical criticality of the one or more users distributed over a geographical area.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more users trapped over the geographical area are in semi-static without much movements in a short frame of time.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein at least one critical user get preference over non-critical users, wherein the criticality is determined based on score of utility function of each user.