Flight control method and unmanned unmannered aerial vehicle

• US 10,235,893 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2017
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Umetani, Hideo, Takeuchi, Kazuma
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Application Number:
  US15/479,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20170330467A1
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/00 Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/15 Aircraft landing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/393 Trajectory determination or predictive tracking, e.g. Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/042 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933

Abstract

A method for controlling an aerial vehicle includes determining a direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling; determining, with reference to a table, an altitude range which corresponds to the determined direction and within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly, the table indicating correspondences between directions in which the aerial vehicle is traveling and altitude ranges within which the aerial vehicle is to fly; obtaining, from an altimeter, a first altitude, which is a current altitude, at which the aerial vehicle is flying; determining whether the first altitude is included in the determined altitude range; and if it is determined that the first altitude is not included in the determined altitude range, changing an altitude at which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly from the first altitude to a second altitude included in the determined altitude range.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an aerial vehicle, comprising:

determining a direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling;

determining, with reference to a table, an altitude range which corresponds to the determined direction and within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly, the table indicating correspondences between directions in which the aerial vehicle is traveling and altitude ranges within which the aerial vehicle is to fly;

obtaining, from an altimeter included in the aerial vehicle, a first altitude, which is a current altitude, at which the aerial vehicle is flying;

determining whether the first altitude is included in the determined altitude range; and

if the first altitude is not included in the determined altitude range, changing the current altitude at which the aerial vehicle is flying from the first altitude to a second altitude included in the determined altitude range.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, from a Global Positioning System (GPS), position information representing a position of the aerial vehicle; and

determining, based on the position information, the direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling includes obtaining a detection result from a magnetic sensor included in the aerial vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling includes obtaining a detection result from a positioning sensor included in the aerial vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the table is stored in a memory included in the aerial vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the table is stored in a server connected to the aerial vehicle through a network.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a detection result from a sensor included in the aerial vehicle, the detection result indicating whether an obstacle in the determined altitude range is present in front of the aerial vehicle that is traveling; and

if the detection result indicates that the obstacle is present, causing the aerial vehicle to fly in a direction to avoid collision with the obstacle within the determined altitude range.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the sensor includes any one of a laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determined altitude range is from a third altitude to a fourth altitude higher than the third altitude,

the method further comprising:

obtaining a detection result from a sensor included in the aerial vehicle, the detection result indicating whether an obstacle in the determined altitude range is present in front of the aerial vehicle that is traveling; and

if the detection result indicates that an obstacle is present within a range from a fifth altitude to a sixth altitude higher than the fifth altitude, changing the altitude at which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly to a seventh altitude included in a range from the third altitude to the fifth altitude or a range from the sixth altitude to the fourth altitude.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the sensor includes any one of a laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a detection result from a sensor included in the aerial vehicle, the detection result indicating whether an obstacle in the determined altitude range is present in front of the aerial vehicle that is traveling; and

causing the aerial vehicle to fly along a route different from a route along which the aerial vehicle is traveling, with an altitude of the aerial vehicle being maintained, at least until the aerial vehicle has passed the obstacle, the obstacle not being present on the different route.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the sensor includes any one of a laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the table indicates a correspondence between a first direction and a first altitude range, a correspondence between a second direction and a second altitude range, a correspondence between a third direction and a third altitude range, and a correspondence between a fourth direction and a fourth altitude range,

the first direction indicates a direction included in a continuous direction range from northwest to northeast, north being included in the first direction,

the second direction indicates a direction included in a continuous direction range from northeast to southeast, east being included in the second direction,

the third direction indicates a direction included in a continuous direction range from southeast to southwest, south being included in the third direction,

the fourth direction indicates a direction included in a continuous direction range from southwest to northwest, west being included in the fourth direction, and

the first altitude range, the second altitude range, the third altitude range, and the fourth altitude range are different from one another.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the altitude ranges indicated in the table include a first altitude range and a second altitude range higher than the first altitude range,

the method further comprising:

obtaining weight information of the aerial vehicle from a memory included in the aerial vehicle;

if, based on the weight information, a weight of the aerial vehicle is lower than or equal to a predetermined value, determining, from the first altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly; and

if, based on the weight information, the weight of the aerial vehicle is higher than the predetermined value, determining, from the second altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the altitude ranges indicated in the table include a first altitude range and a second altitude range higher than the first altitude range,

the method further comprising:

if the aerial vehicle is not transporting a load, determining, from the first altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly; and

if the aerial vehicle is transporting a load, determining, from the second altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the altitude ranges indicated in the table include a first altitude range and a second altitude range higher than the first altitude range,

the method further comprising:

obtaining, from a Global Positioning System (GPS), position information representing a position of the aerial vehicle;

obtaining, based on the obtained position information, map information including a position of the aerial vehicle, the map information including information representing positions and heights of structures that are present around the position of the aerial vehicle;

if a building within a predetermined range from the position of the aerial vehicle has a height lower than the first altitude range, determining, from the first altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly; and

if the building within the predetermined range from the position of the aerial vehicle has a height higher than the first altitude range and lower than the second altitude range, determining, from the second altitude range, the altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling is determined from among directions including north, east, south, and west.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein

for each of the directions from which the direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling is determined, the table includes at least two altitude ranges within which the aerial vehicle is to fly, and

the determined altitude range within which the aerial vehicle is to fly is selected from among the at least two altitude ranges based on whether a predetermined condition is satisfied.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein, whether the predetermined condition is satisfied, is determined using information about weather at a current position of the aerial vehicle.

20. An aerial vehicle that flies in an unmanned manner, the aerial vehicle comprising:

a processor; and

a memory,

wherein the processor

determines a direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling,

determines, with reference to a table stored in the memory, an altitude range which corresponds to the determined direction and within which the aerial vehicle is caused to fly, the table indicating correspondences between directions in which the aerial vehicle is traveling and altitude ranges within which the aerial vehicle is to fly,

obtains, from an altimeter included in the aerial vehicle, a first altitude, which is a current altitude, at which the aerial vehicle is flying,

determines whether the first altitude is included in the determined altitude range, and

if the first altitude is not included in the determined altitude range, changes the current altitude at which the aerial vehicle is flying from the first altitude to a second altitude included in the determined altitude range.