System and method of collision avoidance in unmanned aerial vehicles

• US 10,366,616 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2016
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Botlink, LLC
• Original Assignee: Botlink, LLC
• Inventors: Kube, Alexander J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US14/991,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20160203723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• 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

Abstract

A collision avoidance system includes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a UAV controller, and a safety data aggregator. The UAV includes a positional sensor, and is coupled to communicate positional data to the UAV controller, and receive commands from the UAV controller. The safety data aggregator is coupled to communicate with the UAV controller, wherein the safety data aggregator collects positional data from one or more UAV controllers, stores collected positional data in a safety data buffer, and extracts spatially relevant positional data in response to a request from the UAV controller.

Claims

1. A collision avoidance system comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that includes a positional sensor;

a UAV controller coupled to communicate wirelessly with the UAV, wherein the UAV controller receives safety data from the UAV and provides command instructions to control operation of the UAV, wherein the safety data includes positional data associated with the UAV; and

a safety data aggregator coupled to communicate with the UAV controller, wherein the safety data aggregator collects safety data from one or more UAV controllers, stores collected safety data in a safety data buffer, and extracts spatially relevant safety data in response to a request from the UAV controller; and

wherein the UAV controller determines a risk of collision based on calculating geometries representing possible locations of objects identified in the spatially relevant safety data and the safety data provided by the UAV, wherein calculated geometries are represented as three-dimensional cones extending from a present location of each identified object in a direction determined from the received safety data associated with each identified object.

2. The collision avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the request from the UAV controller for spatially relevant safety data includes the positional data provided by the UAV, wherein spatially relevant positional data is selected based, at least in part, on the positional data included in the request.

3. The collision avoidance system of claim 2, wherein the UAV controller utilizes the spatially relevant positional data provided by the safety data aggregator to determine a risk of collision associated with the UAV, wherein the spatially relevant positional data provided by the safety data aggregator provides information regarding the presence of aircraft operating in a vicinity of the UAV.

4. The collision avoidance system of claim 3, wherein the UAV controller generates a safety point command that directs the UAV to a safe location in response to a determined risk of collision based, at least in part, on the spatially relevant positional data provided by the safety data aggregator and the positional data provided by the UAV.

5. The collision avoidance system of claim 3, wherein the UAV further includes an inertial navigation system that collects orientation, speed, and/or velocity data associated with the UAV, wherein the safety data provided to the UAV controller includes the collected orientation, speed, and/or velocity data and is utilized by the UAV controller to determine the risk of collision associated with the UAV.

6. The collision avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the UAV controller further includes a safety data interface that is configured to communicate the safety data received from the UAV to the safety data aggregator for inclusion, at least in part, in the safety data buffer, wherein the safety data aggregator is remotely located from the UAV controller.

7. The collision avoidance system of claim 6, wherein the UAV controller further includes a safety data processor that receives safety data from the UAV and spatially relevant safety data received from the safety data aggregator, wherein the safety data processor compares safety data associated with the UAV with the spatially relevant safety data received from the safety data aggregator to determine a risk of collision with nearby aircraft.

8. The collision avoidance system of claim 7, wherein the safety data processor calculates collision avoidance geometries based, at least in part, on the safety data associated with the UAV and the spatially relevant safety data received from the safety data aggregator.

9. The collision avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the safety data aggregator further includes a remote sensor network interface module coupled to receive safety data measured by a remote sensor network, wherein safety data received from the remote sensor network is stored to the safety data buffer and made available for extraction by the safety data aggregator.

10. A method of aggregating and distributing safety data, the method comprising:

collecting safety data from a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, including positional data associated with each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles;

providing the collected safety data to a safety data aggregator;

storing the collected safety data in a geo-spatial database that is searchable to provide spatially relevant positional/safety data;

receiving a request from a UAV controller for spatially relevant safety data, wherein the request includes positional data of the UAV associated with the requesting UAV controller;

extracting spatially relevant safety data from the geo-spatial database based on the positional data provided in the request from the UAV controller; and

providing the spatially relevant safety data to the UAV controller for collision avoidance analysis; and

determining a risk of collision based on calculating geometries representing possible locations of objects identified in the spatially relevant safety data and the safety data collected by the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein calculated geometries are represented as three-dimensional cones extending from a present location of each identified object in a direction determined from the received safety data associated with each identified object.

11. The method of claim 10, further including collecting safety data from one or more remote sensor networks capable of detecting objects in three dimensional space, wherein the safety data collected from the one or more remote sensor networks is provided to the safety data aggregator for storage in the geo-spatial database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the remote sensor networks comprises at least one of a radar installation, acoustic sensor, LIDAR, and receivers capable of processing positional information from ADS-B transmitters.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein extracting spatially relevant safety data from the geo-spatial database based on the positional data provided by the UAV controller includes extracting safety data within a predetermined radius or distance of the position provided in the request from the UAV controller.

14. A method of providing collision avoidance, the method comprising:

receiving at an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) controller safety data provided by a UAV, wherein the safety data includes positional data related to the position of the UAV;

communicating the received safety data to a remotely located safety data aggregator;

receiving spatially relevant safety data from the safety data aggregator based on positional data provided to the safety data aggregator; and

determining a risk of collision based on a comparison of safety data received from the UAV and spatially relevant safety data received from the safety data aggregator; and

wherein determining a risk of collision includes calculating geometries representing possible locations of objects identified in the spatially relevant safety data and the safety data provided by the UAV, wherein calculated geometries are represented as three-dimensional cones extending from a present location of each identified object in a direction determined from the received safety data associated with each identified object.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the safety data provided by the UAV includes one or more of directional data, orientation data, speed data, and positional data.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein based on the interaction of the calculated geometries for identified objects, a collision risk is assigned to the UAV.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein in response to a detected high collision risk level, the method includes calculating a safe location for the UAV and communicating instructions to the UAV to direct the UAV to the calculated safe location.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein in response to a detected low collision risk level, the method includes displaying a notification via the UAV controller of the detected risk and graphically displaying a location of the object posing a potential collision threat.

19. A safety data aggregator system comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data collection module coupled to receive safety data from one or more UAV controllers, wherein safety data includes at least position data of UAVs controlled by the one or more UAV controllers;

a remote sensor network interface module coupled to receive safety data measured by a remote sensor network;

a safety data buffer configured to store safety data received by the UAV data collection module and remote sensor network interface module; and

a safety data extraction module that receives requests for spatially relevant safety data, wherein the safety data extraction module interacts with the safety data buffer to extract spatially relevant safety data, wherein the spatially relevant safety data is communicated to the UAV controller for which the extracted data is spatially relevant; and

wherein the UAV controller determines a risk of collision based on calculating geometries representing possible locations of objects identified in the spatially relevant safety data and the safety data, wherein calculated geometries are represented as three-dimensional cones extending from a present location of each identified object in a direction determined from the received safety data associated with each identified object.

20. The safety data aggregator system of claim 19, wherein the safety data received from the UAV controllers includes one or more of position data, orientation data, directional data, and speed data.

21. The safety data aggregator system of claim 19, further including a data translation module coupled with the remote sensor network interface, wherein the data translation module translates received safety data in a format that can be stored by the geo-spatial database.

22. The safety data aggregator system of claim 19, wherein the safety data buffer is a geo-spatial database that is searchable by relevance to a provided position or location.