Mobile object and antenna automatic alignment method and system thereof

• US 10,516,454 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2017
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• 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: Hu, Meng, Xie, Peng, Zhao, Tao, Wei, Jianping
• Primary Examiner(s): Galt, Cassi J
• Application Number:
  US15/638,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/00 UAVs characterised by their flight controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0802 using antenna selection H04B7/0868 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

An antenna automatic alignment method for a mobile object includes acquiring, in real time, current feature information of a plurality of antennas of the mobile object, and selecting one of the antennas to establish a communication link with a wireless terminal in accordance with the current feature information of the plurality of antennas.

Claims

1. An antenna automatic alignment method for a mobile object comprising:

obtaining, by a controller onboard the mobile object in real time, current feature information of a plurality of antennas of the mobile object, the antennas including an even number of at least four antennas of a same type, the current feature information of the plurality of antennas including relative position information of the plurality of antennas relative to a wireless terminal, wherein the relative position information of the plurality of antennas includes current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object;

determining, by the controller, whether the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object satisfy a switching criterion, including;

constructing a plurality of position ranges in accordance with the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object, wherein constructing a position range includes constructing a coordinate range, one end point of the coordinate range corresponding to the current position information of one of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and another end point of the coordinate range corresponding to the current position information of another one of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object; and

determining whether at least one of the plurality of position ranges covers the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object;

selecting, by the controller, half of the antennas as current communication antennas to establish a communication link with the wireless terminal in accordance with the switching criterion, another half of the antennas being spare antennas not for using in current communication with the wireless terminal; and

performing, by the controller, communication with the wireless terminal through the current communication antennas using the communication link.

2. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the current feature information of the plurality of antennas of the mobile object includes obtaining current feature information of a plurality of antennas of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

3. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the half of the antennas to establish the communication link with the wireless terminal includes selecting the half of the antennas to establish the communication link with at least one of a ground wireless terminal or an aerial wireless terminal.

4. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the half of the antennas to establish the communication link with the wireless terminal includes selecting the half of the antennas to establish a multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) communication link.

5. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the current feature information of the plurality of antennas includes obtaining current feature information of at least one of a WiFi antenna, a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) antenna, or a coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) antenna.

6. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving current attitude information of the mobile object and preset attitude information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object;

wherein the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object is obtained in accordance with the current attitude information of the mobile object and the preset attitude information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object.

7. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, in real time, current absolute position information of the wireless terminal and current absolute position information of the mobile object;

wherein the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object is obtained in accordance with the current absolute position information of the wireless terminal and the current absolute position information of the mobile object.

8. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, in real time, current absolute position information of the mobile object;

wherein the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object is calculated in accordance with position information of a take-off point of the mobile object and the current absolute position information of the mobile object.

9. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the half of the antennas to establish the communication link in accordance with the switching criterion includes:

selecting half of the antennas that correspond to one of the position ranges that covers the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object.

10. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the current feature information of the antennas further includes obtaining signal state information of the antennas.

11. A mobile object, comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to establish a communication link with a wireless terminal, the antennas including an even number of at least four antennas of a same type; and

a controller in communication connection with the plurality of antennas, the controller being configured to;

obtain, in real time, current feature information of the plurality of antennas, including relative position information of the plurality of antennas relative to a wireless terminal, wherein the relative position information of the plurality of antennas includes current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object;

determine whether the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object satisfy a switching criterion, including;

constructing a plurality of position ranges in accordance with the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object, wherein constructing a position range includes constructing a coordinate range, one end point of the coordinate range corresponding to the current position information of one of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object and another end point of the coordinate range corresponding to the current position information of another one of the plurality of antennas relative to the mobile object; and

determining whether at least one of the plurality of position ranges covers the current position information of the wireless terminal relative to the mobile object;

select half of the antennas as current communication antennas for establishing the communication link in accordance with the switching criterion, another half of the antennas being spare antennas not for using in current communication with the wireless terminal; and

perform communication with the wireless terminal through the current communication antennas.