3D modeling of cell sites and cell towers with unmanned aerial vehicles
First Claim
1. A method for modeling a cell site with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
- causing the UAV to fly a given flight path about a cell tower at the cell site, wherein the UAV takes a plurality of flights about the cell tower and a launch location and launch orientation is defined for the UAV to take off and land at the cell site via a zone indicator at the cell site which marks a location on the ground such that each flight of the plurality of flights has the same launch location at the cell site and launch orientation where the UAV is facing during the take off;
obtaining a plurality of photographs of the cell site during the plurality of flights, wherein each of the plurality of photographs is associated with one or more location identifiers;
subsequent to the obtaining, processing the plurality of photographs to define a three dimensional (3D) model of the cell site based on the associated with one or more location identifiers and one or more objects of interest in the plurality of photographs, wherein the 3D model further includes the zone indicator for future flights; and
subsequent to creation of the 3D model, relaunching the UAV from the launch location based on the zone indicator in the launch orientation to obtain updated photographs and updating the 3D model with the updated photographs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for modeling a cell site with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) includes causing the UAV to fly a given flight path about a cell tower at the cell site, wherein a launch location and launch orientation is defined for the UAV to take off and land at the cell site such that each flight at the cell site has the same launch location and launch orientation; obtaining a plurality of photographs of the cell site during about the flight plane, wherein each of the plurality of photographs is associated with one or more location identifiers; and, subsequent to the obtaining, processing the plurality of photographs to define a three dimensional (3D) model of the cell site based on the associated with one or more location identifiers and one or more objects of interest in the plurality of photographs.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for modeling a cell site with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
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causing the UAV to fly a given flight path about a cell tower at the cell site, wherein the UAV takes a plurality of flights about the cell tower and a launch location and launch orientation is defined for the UAV to take off and land at the cell site via a zone indicator at the cell site which marks a location on the ground such that each flight of the plurality of flights has the same launch location at the cell site and launch orientation where the UAV is facing during the take off; obtaining a plurality of photographs of the cell site during the plurality of flights, wherein each of the plurality of photographs is associated with one or more location identifiers; subsequent to the obtaining, processing the plurality of photographs to define a three dimensional (3D) model of the cell site based on the associated with one or more location identifiers and one or more objects of interest in the plurality of photographs, wherein the 3D model further includes the zone indicator for future flights; and subsequent to creation of the 3D model, relaunching the UAV from the launch location based on the zone indicator in the launch orientation to obtain updated photographs and updating the 3D model with the updated photographs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) associated with a cell site, the UAV comprising:
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one or more rotors disposed to a body; a camera associated with the body; wireless interfaces; a processor coupled to the wireless interfaces and the camera; and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to; process commands to cause the UAV to fly a given flight path about a cell tower at the cell site, wherein the UAV takes a plurality of flights about the cell tower and a launch location and launch orientation is defined for the UAV to take off and land at the cell site via a zone indicator at the cell site which marks a location on the ground such that each flight of the plurality of flights has the same launch location at the cell site and launch orientation where the UAV is facing during the take off; obtain a plurality of photographs of the cell site during the plurality of flights, wherein each of the plurality of photographs is associated with one or more location identifiers; provide the plurality of photographs to a processing system which defines a three dimensional (3D) model of the cell site based on the associated with one or more location identifiers and one or more objects of interest in the plurality of photographs, wherein the 3D model further includes the zone indicator for future flights; and
; andsubsequent to creation of the 3D model, obtain updated photographs where the UAV is relaunched from the launch location based on the zone indicator in the launch orientation for the updated photographs and update the 3D model with the updated photographs. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A cell site, comprising:
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a cell tower with cell site components associated therewith; a housing at the cell site storing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV); wherein the UAV is configured to fly a given flight path about a cell tower at the cell site, wherein the UAV takes a plurality of flights about the cell tower and a launch location and launch orientation is defined for the UAV to take off and land at the cell site via a zone indicator at the cell site which marks a location on the ground such that each flight of the plurality of flights has the same launch location at the cell site and launch orientation where the UAV is facing during the take off; wherein the UAV is configured to obtain a plurality of photographs of the cell site about the plurality of flights, wherein each of the plurality of photographs is associated with one or more location identifiers; wherein a processing system is configured to define a three dimensional (3D) model of the cell site based on the associated with one or more location identifiers and one or more objects of interest in the plurality of photographs, wherein the 3D model further includes the zone indicator for future flights; and wherein, subsequent to creation of the 3D model, the UAV is relaunched from the launch location based on the zone indicator in the launch orientation to obtain updated photographs and the 3D model is updated by the processing system with the updated photographs. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification