Identifying camera position of a UAV in flight utilizing real time kinematic satellite navigation
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- determining, by at least one processor during a flight mission of a UAV, a position of the UAV at a first time and a position of the UAV at a second time based on a number of wave lengths of a signal transmitted from a satellite to the UAV at the first time, a number of wave lengths of the signal at the second time, RTK correction data at the first time, and RTK correction data at the second time;
identifying, by the at least one processor during the flight mission, a time that a camera affixed to the UAV captures a digital aerial image of a site by detecting when a shutter of the camera affixed to the UAV is open;
detecting an attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, wherein the attitude comprises a measurement of pitch, roll, and yaw of the UAV corresponding to the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image; and
determining, by the at least one processor, a position of the camera based on a time of capturing the digital aerial image, the attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, the position of the UAV at the first time, and the position of the UAV at the second time;
determining, by the at least one processor during the flight mission, a quality of a calculation of the position of the UAV at a third time, wherein determining the quality of the calculation comprises determining whether the calculation is fixed or floating; and
modifying flight of the UAV based on the determination of the quality of the calculation.
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Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for determining a position of a camera affixed to a UAV in flight when the camera captures a digital aerial image. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods utilize real time kinematic satellite navigation techniques to identify a position of a UAV. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods precisely determine the time that a camera captures a digital aerial image together with an attitude of the UAV at the time of capture to calculate a location of a camera at the time of capture. In one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods can utilize the determined position of the camera together with the captured digital aerial image to generate a three-dimensional representation of a site.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining, by at least one processor during a flight mission of a UAV, a position of the UAV at a first time and a position of the UAV at a second time based on a number of wave lengths of a signal transmitted from a satellite to the UAV at the first time, a number of wave lengths of the signal at the second time, RTK correction data at the first time, and RTK correction data at the second time; identifying, by the at least one processor during the flight mission, a time that a camera affixed to the UAV captures a digital aerial image of a site by detecting when a shutter of the camera affixed to the UAV is open; detecting an attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, wherein the attitude comprises a measurement of pitch, roll, and yaw of the UAV corresponding to the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image; and determining, by the at least one processor, a position of the camera based on a time of capturing the digital aerial image, the attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, the position of the UAV at the first time, and the position of the UAV at the second time; determining, by the at least one processor during the flight mission, a quality of a calculation of the position of the UAV at a third time, wherein determining the quality of the calculation comprises determining whether the calculation is fixed or floating; and modifying flight of the UAV based on the determination of the quality of the calculation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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calculating, by at least one processor, a position of a UAV at a first time and a position of the UAV at a second time based on a signal transmitted from a satellite to the UAV at the first time, a signal at the second time, RTK correction data at the first time, and RTK correction data at the second time; identifying, by the at least one processor, a time that the UAV captured a digital aerial image of a site based on a measurement by the UAV of when a shutter of a camera affixed to the UAV was open; obtaining an attitude of the UAV corresponding to the time that the UAV captured the digital aerial image, wherein the attitude comprises a measurement of pitch, roll, and yaw of the UAV corresponding to the time that the UAV captured the digital aerial image; determining a position of the camera at a time of capturing the digital aerial image based on the attitude of the UAV at the time of capturing the digital aerial image, the position of the UAV at the first time, and the position of the UAV at the second time by; generating a distance vector from a position of a GPS receiver to the camera based on the attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image; and applying the distance vector to the position of the GPS receiver at the time of capturing the digital aerial image; and generating a three-dimensional representation of the site based on the digital aerial image and the determined position of the camera at the time of capturing the digital aerial image. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A system comprising:
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a UAV with a camera affixed to the UAV; at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to; determine, during a flight mission of the UAV, a position of the UAV at a first time and a position of the UAV at a second time based on a number of wave lengths of a signal transmitted from a satellite to the UAV at the first time, a number of wave lengths of the signal at the second time, RTK correction data at the first time, and RTK correction data at the second time; identify, during the flight mission, a time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures a digital aerial image of a site by detecting when a shutter of the camera affixed to the UAV is open; detect an attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, wherein the attitude comprises a measurement of pitch, roll, and yaw of the UAV corresponding to the time that the UAV captures the digital aerial image; and determine a position of the camera based on a time of capturing the digital aerial image, the attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image, the position of the UAV at the first time, and the position of the UAV at the second time by; generating a distance vector from a position of a GPS receiver and the camera based on the detected attitude of the UAV at the time that the camera affixed to the UAV captures the digital aerial image; and applying the distance vector to the position of the GPS receiver at the time of capturing the digital aerial image. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification