Methods and systems for autonomous generation of shortest lateral paths for unmanned aerial systems
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- memory storing computer readable code; and
at least one processor to execute the computer readable code to cause the at least one processor to;
access an initial scenario including a source point, a target point, and a no flight zone;
determine a computation time for identifying a lateral path for an aircraft to traverse that avoids the no flight zone, the computation time being associated with a first number of vertices of the no flight zone;
determine whether the determined computation time satisfies a threshold of a reference computation time;
when the computation time does not satisfy the threshold of the reference computation time, change the first number of vertices of the no flight zone to a second number of vertices of the no flight zone to enable a subsequently determined computation time to satisfy the threshold;
determine a buffer area surrounding the no flight zone, wherein the buffer area is defined by an offset distance from a perimeter of the no flight zone;
construct a visibility graph including lateral paths between the source point and the target point, the lateral paths not passing through the no flight zone, the lateral paths connecting the first number of vertices or the second number of vertices of the no flight zone, the first number of vertices or the second number of vertices taking into account the buffer area; and
identify a first lateral path of the lateral paths, the first lateral path being shorter than others of the lateral paths.
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Abstract
Methods and systems for autonomous generation of shortest lateral paths for unmanned aerial systems are described. An example system includes memory storing code and at least one processor to execute the code to cause the at least one processor to access an initial scenario including a source point, a target point, and a no flight zone, determine a computation time for identifying a lateral path for an aircraft to traverse that avoids the no flight zone, determine whether the determined computation time satisfies a threshold of a reference computation time, change the first number of vertices to a second number of vertices when the reference computation time is not satisfied, determine a buffer area surrounding the no flight zone, construct a visibility graph including lateral paths, and identify one of the lateral paths as being shorter than others of the lateral paths.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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memory storing computer readable code; and at least one processor to execute the computer readable code to cause the at least one processor to; access an initial scenario including a source point, a target point, and a no flight zone; determine a computation time for identifying a lateral path for an aircraft to traverse that avoids the no flight zone, the computation time being associated with a first number of vertices of the no flight zone; determine whether the determined computation time satisfies a threshold of a reference computation time; when the computation time does not satisfy the threshold of the reference computation time, change the first number of vertices of the no flight zone to a second number of vertices of the no flight zone to enable a subsequently determined computation time to satisfy the threshold; determine a buffer area surrounding the no flight zone, wherein the buffer area is defined by an offset distance from a perimeter of the no flight zone; construct a visibility graph including lateral paths between the source point and the target point, the lateral paths not passing through the no flight zone, the lateral paths connecting the first number of vertices or the second number of vertices of the no flight zone, the first number of vertices or the second number of vertices taking into account the buffer area; and identify a first lateral path of the lateral paths, the first lateral path being shorter than others of the lateral paths. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system, comprising:
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memory storing computer readable code; and at least one processor to execute the computer readable code to cause the at least one processor to; define an area between a source point and a target point; identify a first no flight zone within the area; identify a second no flight zone outside of the area; estimate a first computation time to determine a first lateral path for an aircraft to traverse between the source point and the target point, the estimating to consider the first no flight zone, the estimating not to consider the second no flight zone; compare the first computation time to a reference computation time; modify the first no flight zone to be a third no flight zone when the first computation time does not satisfy a threshold of the reference computation time; and estimate a second computation time to determine a second lateral path for the aircraft to traverse between the source point and the target point, the estimating to consider the third no flight zone. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system, comprising:
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memory storing computer readable code; and at least one processor to execute the computer readable code to cause the at least one processor to; determine an initial path estimate between a source point and a target point associated with a flight of an aircraft; identify a first no flight zone and a second no flight zone; determine a first buffer area surrounding the first no flight zone and a second buffer area surrounding the second no flight zone, wherein the first buffer area is defined by an offset distance from a perimeter of the first no flight zone and the second buffer area is defined by an offset distance from a perimeter of the second no flight zone; identify an overlap between the first no flight zone including the first buffer area and the second no flight zone including the second buffer area; merge the first no flight zone including the first buffer area and the second no flight zone including the second buffer area into a third no flight zone including a third buffer area when the overlap is identified; construct a visibility graph including lateral paths between the source point and the target point, the lateral paths not passing through the third no flight zone including the third buffer area, the lateral paths connecting vertices of the third no flight zone; and identify a first lateral path of the lateral paths, the first lateral path being shorter than others of the lateral paths. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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Specification