Scanning environments and tracking unmanned aerial vehicles
First Claim
1. A method, performed by a computing system having a memory and a processor, for tracking a flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle in an environment using a three-dimensional model of the environment, the method comprising:
- with a scanner system, comprising at least one camera that is remote from the unmanned aerial vehicle,tracking the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment based at least in part on;
identifying the unmanned aerial vehicle within at least one image captured by the at least one camera,determining a position and/or orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle,confirming an identity of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, andcausing at least a rotation of the at least one camera so that the unmanned aerial vehicle remains within a field of view of the at least one camera, andcomparing the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment to a flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model;
determining that the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model; and
in response to determining that the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model,redirecting the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in accordance with the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model at least in part by transmitting guidance information to the unmanned aerial vehicle.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for scanning environments and tracking unmanned aerial vehicles within the scanned environments are disclosed. A method in accordance with a particular embodiment includes using a rangefinder off-board an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to identify points in a region. The method can further include forming a computer-based map of the region with the points and using the rangefinder and a camera to locate the UAV as it moves in the region. The location of the UAV can be compared with locations on the computer-based map and, based upon the comparison, the method can include transmitting guidance information to the UAV. In a further particular embodiment, two-dimensional imaging data is used in addition to the rangefinder data to provide color information to points in the region.
61 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method, performed by a computing system having a memory and a processor, for tracking a flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle in an environment using a three-dimensional model of the environment, the method comprising:
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with a scanner system, comprising at least one camera that is remote from the unmanned aerial vehicle, tracking the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment based at least in part on; identifying the unmanned aerial vehicle within at least one image captured by the at least one camera, determining a position and/or orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, confirming an identity of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and causing at least a rotation of the at least one camera so that the unmanned aerial vehicle remains within a field of view of the at least one camera, and comparing the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment to a flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model; determining that the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model; and in response to determining that the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model, redirecting the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in accordance with the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model at least in part by transmitting guidance information to the unmanned aerial vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, if executed by a computing system having a processor, cause the computing system to perform a method for tracking a flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle in an environment using a three-dimensional model of the environment, the method comprising:
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tracking the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment based at least in part on; identifying the unmanned aerial vehicle within at least one image captured by at least one camera remote from the unmanned aerial vehicle, determining a position and/or orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, confirming an identity of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and causing at least a rotation of the at least one camera so that the unmanned aerial vehicle remains within a field of view of the at least one camera, and comparing the actual flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the environment to a flight path constructed in a three-dimensional model; determining that the actual flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model; and in response to determining that the actual flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle has deviated from the flight path constructed in the three-dimensional model constructed in the three-dimensional model, transmitting guidance information to the unmanned aerial vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A system comprising:
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a scanner comprising; a camera, a rangefinder, a tilt encoder, and a pan encoder; and one or more processors that, when executing instructions stored on at least a memory, are configured to; generate a three-dimensional model of an environment based at least in part on; information collected from the camera, information collected from the rangefinder, information collected from the tilt encoder, and information collected from the pan encoder; calculate a projected flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle through three-dimensional model of the environment, wherein the scanner is remote from the unmanned aerial vehicle; cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to begin a flight through the environment in accordance with the projected flight path; track the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle through the environment based at least in part on; information collected from the camera, information collected from the tilt encoder, information collected from the pan encoder, identifying the unmanned aerial vehicle within at least one image captured by the camera, determining a position and/or orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, confirming an identity of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least in part on the at least one physical coding pattern associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and causing at least a rotation of the camera so that the unmanned aerial vehicle remains within a field of view of the camera, and compare the tracked flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle through environment to the projected flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle through the three-dimensional model of the environment. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification