Aerial vehicle flight control method and device thereof

• US 10,325,505 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. (d/b/a DJI) (iFlight Technology Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. (d/b/a DJI) (iFlight Technology Company Limited)
• Inventors: Gao, Mingming, Liu, Ang, Yang, Kang
• Primary Examiner(s): Brushaber, Frederick M
• Application Number:
  US15/457,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20170186329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/04 actuated personally
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 43/00 Arrangements or adaptations of instruments arrangements of cameras B64D47/08; aeronautical measuring instruments per se G01C
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/106 Change initiated in response to external conditions, e.g. avoidance of elevated terrain or of no-fly zones
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• 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 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/40 Weight reduction

Abstract

The present invention provides a flight control method for an aerial vehicle and a related device. The method may comprises receiving flight indication data under a current environment, the flight indication data including flight indication data detected by another aerial vehicle or provided by an external storage device; generating a flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data to control a flight of the aerial vehicle. An embodiment of the present invention may store and manage the flight indication data acquired by various aerial vehicles, so as to provide the support of related flight indication data to some requesting aerial vehicles, to enable the requesting aerial vehicles to perform operations such as obstacle avoidance, safe path planning and finding landing places based on the flight indication data.

Claims

1. A flight control method for an aerial vehicle, comprising:

receiving flight indication data containing a position region associated with the flight indication data, the flight indication data being detected by and sent from another aerial vehicle or being sent by an external storage device;

determining whether a current position of the aerial vehicle is within the position region associated with the flight indication data;

in response to the current position being within the position region, generating a flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data; and

controlling a flight of the aerial vehicle according to the flight control instruction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data comprises:

determining an environmental map of a current environment according to the received flight indication data, the determined environmental map including a three-dimensional environmental map; and

generating the flight control instruction according to the determined environmental map and the current position of the aerial vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data comprises:

determining a data object included in the flight indication data;

when obstacle data for indicating an obstacle avoidance flight is included in the flight indication data, calculating a distance value between the aerial vehicle and an edge of an obstacle according to obstacle position information in the obstacle data and a current coordinate position and altitude of the aerial vehicle, and generating an obstacle avoidance flight instruction according to the calculated distance value; and

when flight path data is included in the flight indication data, generating the flight control instruction according to the flight path data and the coordinate position of the aerial vehicle itself so as to make the aerial vehicle fly along a path indicated by the flight path data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data comprises:

detecting flight state information of the aerial vehicle;

when the detected flight state information meets a preset flight-stopping condition, extracting aerial vehicle dock data included in the received flight indication data; and

generating the flight control instruction to control the aerial vehicle to fly towards an aerial vehicle dock indicated by the aerial vehicle dock data and to land on the aerial vehicle dock,

wherein the aerial vehicle dock data includes position data of the aerial vehicle dock.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data comprises:

when no-fly zone indication information is included in the flight indication data, determining a minimum distance to a border of a no-fly zone indicated by the no-fly zone indication information according to the current position; and

when the determined minimum distance is less than a preset distance threshold or the current position is within the no-fly zone, generating the flight control instruction for controlling the aerial vehicle to fly away from the no-fly zone.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deploying a detecting module to acquire environmental data during a flight; and

sending the detected environmental data to a storage device at a target address or broadcasting the detected environmental data at a preset frequency.

7. A method for processing flight data, comprising:

receiving, by a communication device, environmental data acquired and uploaded by various aerial vehicles during flights, the environmental data including image data and position data of an environment; and

based on the position data included in the received environmental data, processing the received environmental data in accordance with position regions indicated by the position data to obtain flight indication data corresponding to the position regions;

receiving a download request from a requesting aerial vehicle, the download request including a current position of the requesting aerial vehicle;

determining the flight indication data corresponding to one of the position regions within which the current position of the requesting aerial vehicle is located; and

controlling the communication device to send the determined flight indication data to the requesting aerial vehicle to control a flight of the requesting aerial vehicle based on the determined flight indication data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein processing the received environmental data in accordance with the position regions to obtain the flight indication data of the position regions comprises:

updating a three-dimensional environmental map of the position regions according to the position data included in the received environmental data; and

using the updated three-dimensional environmental map as the flight indication data of the position regions.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein processing the received environmental data in accordance with the position regions to obtain the flight indication data of the position regions comprises:

determining a receiving time of the received environmental data;

determining a latest update time of a map content of a region corresponding to the position data of the received environmental data in a current three-dimensional environmental map; and

updating map content of the position regions in the current three-dimensional environmental map according to environmental data with a receiving time later than the latest update time, and using the updated three-dimensional environmental map as the flight indication data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein, after receiving the environmental data acquired and uploaded by the various aerial vehicles during flights, the method further comprises:

storing environmental data with similar contents in a same data set;

performing storage management on various data sets according to a preset storage management rule, the storage management including deletion management for environmental data,

wherein the storage management rule is set based on any one or combination of a receiving time of the environmental data, image quality of image data in the environmental data, and a difference between image contents in the environmental data with same contents.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, in the environmental data with similar contents included in the same data set, a distance value between any two environmental data acquiring position points is less than a preset distance threshold, and a difference value between any two environmental data acquiring azimuth angles relative to a reference direction is less than a preset angle threshold.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, in the environmental data with similar contents included in the same data set, the similarity between images of any two image data reaches a preset similarity threshold.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein processing the environmental data in accordance with the position regions to obtain the flight indication data of the position regions comprises:

selecting desired environmental data from various data sets of the environmental data in accordance with a preset selection rule; and

based on position data included in the various desired environmental data, processing various desired environmental data in accordance with the position regions to obtain the flight indication data of the position regions;

wherein the selection rule is set based on any one or combination of the receiving time of the environmental data, the image quality of image data in the environmental data, and the difference between image contents in the environmental data with same contents.

14. An aerial vehicle, comprising:

a communication device configured for receiving flight indication data containing a position region associated with the flight indication data, the flight indication data being detected by and sent from another aerial vehicle or being sent by an external storage device; and

a flight controller coupled to the communication device and configured for;

determining whether a current position of the aerial vehicle is within the position region associated with the flight indication data;

in response to the current position being within the position region, generating a flight control instruction according to the received flight indication data; and

controlling a flight of the aerial vehicle according to the flight control instruction.

15. The aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the flight controller is specifically configured for determining an environmental map of a current environment according to the received flight indication data;

and generating the flight control instruction according to the determined environmental map and the current position of the aerial vehicle, the determined environmental map including a three-dimensional environmental map.

16. The aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the flight controller is specifically configured for, when obstacle data for indicating an obstacle avoidance flight is included in the flight indication data, calculating a distance value between the aerial vehicle and an edge of an obstacle according to obstacle position information in the obstacle data, a current coordinate position and altitude of the aerial vehicle, and generating an obstacle avoidance flight instruction according to the calculated distance value;

and, when flight path data is included in the flight indication data, generating the flight control instruction according to the flight path data and a coordinate position of the aerial vehicle itself, to make the aerial vehicle fly along a path indicated by the flight path data.

17. The aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the flight controller is specifically configured for detecting flight state information of the aerial vehicle;

when the detected flight state information meets a preset flight-stopping condition, extracting aerial vehicle dock data included in the received flight indication data; and

generating the flight control instruction to control the aerial vehicle to fly towards an aerial vehicle dock indicated by the aerial vehicle dock data and to land the aerial vehicle dock;

wherein the aerial vehicle dock data includes position data of the aerial vehicle dock.

18. The aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the flight controller is specifically configured for, when no-fly zone indication information is included in the flight indication data, determining a minimum distance to a border of a no-fly zone indicated by the no-fly zone indication information according to the current position;

and, when the determined minimum distance is less than a preset distance threshold or the current position is within the no-fly zone, generating the flight control instruction for controlling the aerial vehicle to fly away from the no-fly zone.

19. The aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the flight controller is further configured for acquiring environmental data during the flight;

and sending the detected environmental data to a storage device at a target address or broadcasting the detected environmental data at a preset frequency.

20. A server, comprising:

a communication device configured for receiving environmental data acquired and uploaded by various aerial vehicles during flights, the environmental data including image data and position data of an environment; and

a processor coupled to the communication device and configured for;

based on the position data included in the received environmental data, processing the received environmental data in accordance with position regions indicated by the position data to obtain flight indication data corresponding to the position regions;

receiving a download request from a requesting aerial vehicle, the download request including a current position of the requesting aerial vehicle;

determining the flight indication data corresponding to one of the position regions within which the current position of the requesting aerial vehicle is located; and

controlling the communication device to send the determined flight indication data to the requesting aerial vehicle to control a flight of the requesting aerial vehicle based on the determined flight indication data.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the processor is specifically configured for updating a three-dimensional environmental map of the the position regions according to the position data included in the received environmental data;

and using the updated three-dimensional environmental map as the flight indication data of the position regions.

22. The server of claim 20, wherein the processor is specifically configured for determining a receiving time of the received environmental data;

determining a latest update time of map content of a region corresponding to the position data of the received environmental data in a current three-dimensional environmental map; and

updating map content of the position regions in the current three-dimensional environmental map according to the environmental data with a receiving time later than the latest update time, and using the updated three-dimensional environmental map as the flight indication data.

23. The server of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured for storing environmental data with similar contents in a same data set;

performing storage management on various data sets according to a preset storage management rule, the storage management including deletion management for environmental data;

wherein the storage management rule is set based on any one or combination of a receiving time of the environmental data, image quality of image data in the environmental data, and a difference between image contents in the environmental data with same contents;

wherein, in the environmental data with similar contents in the same data set, a distance value between any two environmental data acquiring position points is less than a preset distance threshold and a difference value between any two environmental data acquiring azimuth angles relative to a reference direction is less than a preset angle threshold;

or a similarity between images of any two image data reaches a preset similarity threshold.

24. The server of claim 23, wherein the processor is specifically configured for selecting desired environmental data from various data sets of the environmental data in accordance with a preset selection rule;

and, based on the position data included in various desired environmental data, processing various desired environmental data in accordance with the position regions to obtain the flight indication data of the position regions;

wherein the selection rule is set based on any one or combination of the receiving time of the environmental data, the image quality of image data in the environmental data and the difference between image contents in the environmental data with same contents.