Aerial system and vehicle for continuous operation

• US 10,220,963 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2016
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: Peverill, James, McKenna, Terrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Yuen H
• Application Number:
  US15/291,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20170023948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/10 Air crafts
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/68 Arrester hooks
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/04 the lighting devices being primarily intended to illuminate the way ahead
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/029 using a cable or tether
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/362 Installations for supplying conditioned air to parked aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/25 Fixed-wing aircraft VTOL aircraft B64U10/20
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• 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 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/34 In-flight charging photovoltaics B64U50/31
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/30 for capturing UAVs in flight by ground or sea-based arresting gear, e.g. by a cable or a net
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/101 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

An aerial vehicle having a vision based navigation system for capturing an arresting cable situated at a landing site may comprise a fuselage having a propulsion system; an arresting device coupled to the fuselage, the arresting device to capture the arresting cable at the landing site; a camera situated on the aerial vehicle; an infrared illuminator situated on the aerial vehicle to illuminate the landing site, wherein the arresting cable has two infrared reflectors situated thereon; and an onboard vision processor. The onboard vision processor may (i) generate a plurality of coordinates representing features of the landing site using an image thresholding technique, (ii) eliminate one or more coordinates as outlier coordinates using linear correlation, and (iii) identify two of the plurality of coordinates as the two infrared reflectors using a Kalman filter.

Claims

1. An aerial vehicle having a vision-based navigation system for capturing an arresting cable situated at a landing site, the aerial vehicle comprising:

a fuselage having a propulsion system;

an arresting device coupled to the fuselage, the arresting device to capture said arresting cable at the landing site;

a camera situated on the aerial vehicle;

an infrared illuminator situated on the aerial vehicle to illuminate the landing site, wherein said arresting cable has two infrared reflectors situated on said arresting cable; and

an onboard processor to (i) generate a plurality of coordinates representing features of the landing site using an image thresholding technique, (ii) eliminate one or more coordinates as outlier coordinates using linear correlation, (iii) identify two of the plurality of coordinates as associated with the two infrared reflectors using a Kalman filter, and (iv) navigate the aerial vehicle toward said two of the plurality of coordinates associated with the two infrared reflectors to enable the aerial vehicle to capture said arresting cable situated at the landing site.

2. The aerial vehicle of claim 1, wherein the onboard processor identifies a perching point on said arresting cable using said two of the plurality of coordinates.

3. The aerial vehicle of claim 2, wherein the aerial vehicle charges an onboard battery using power received from said arresting cable via said arresting device.

4. A vision-based navigation system for installation on an aerial vehicle, the vision-based navigation system comprising:

a camera;

an illuminator situated on the aerial vehicle to illuminate a landing site, wherein the landing site comprises an arresting cable with two reflectors situated on the arresting cable;

an onboard processor to identify a perching point at the landing site, wherein the onboard processor identifies the perching point by (i) generating a plurality of coordinates representing features of the landing site using an image thresholding technique, (ii) identifying among said plurality of coordinates a coordinate associated with each of said two reflectors, and (iii) navigate the aerial vehicle toward the identified coordinates associated with each of said two infrared reflectors to enable the aerial vehicle to capture the arresting cable situated at the landing site.

5. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the onboard processor is configured to identify said coordinate for each of said two reflectors using a Kalman filter.

6. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the onboard processor eliminates outlier coordinates from said plurality of coordinates using linear correlation.

7. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the onboard processor is configured to calculate a distance and a relative bank angle relative to the arresting cable.

8. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the onboard processor is configured to calculate a relative pitch and heading of the aerial vehicle.

9. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the onboard processor is configured to identify the perching point as a point approximately halfway between the coordinates identified for said two reflectors.

10. The vision-based navigation system of claim 4, wherein the aerial vehicle further comprises an arresting device to capture the arresting cable at the landing site.

11. The vision-based navigation system of claim 10, wherein the arresting device comprises one or more conductive contacts facilitate charging of the aerial vehicle via the arresting cable.

12. An aerial vehicle for autonomous landing, the aerial vehicle comprising:

a fuselage;

a camera;

an illuminator situated on the aerial vehicle to illuminate two reflectors situated at a landing site; and

an onboard processor to identify a perching point at the landing site, wherein the onboard processor identifies the perching point by (i) generating a plurality of coordinates representing features of the landing site using an image thresholding technique, (ii) identifying among said plurality of coordinates a coordinate associated with each of said two reflectors, and (iii) navigate the aerial vehicle toward the identified coordinates associated with each of said two infrared reflectors to enable the aerial vehicle to land at the perching point autonomously.

13. The aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the onboard processor is configured to identify said coordinate for each of said two reflectors using a Kalman filter.

14. The aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the onboard processor is configured to eliminate one or more coordinates as outlier coordinates using linear correlation.

15. The aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the illuminator is an infrared illuminator and the two reflectors are infrared reflectors situated on an arresting cable at the landing site.

16. The aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the onboard processor is configured to identify the perching point as a point approximately halfway between the coordinates identified for said two reflectors.

17. The aerial vehicle of claim 15, wherein the onboard processor is configured to calculate a relative bank angle and distance in relation to the arresting cable and to calculate a relative pitch and heading of the aerial vehicle.

18. The aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the aerial vehicle further comprises an arresting device to capture an arresting cable at the landing site.

19. The aerial vehicle of claim 18, wherein the arresting device comprises one or more conductive contacts facilitate charging of the aerial vehicle via the arresting cable.

20. The aerial vehicle of claim 19, wherein the aerial vehicle charges an onboard battery using power received from the arresting cable via the arresting device.