Mobile object and antenna automatic alignment method and system thereof

• US 10,523,293 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2018
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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:
  US16/032,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20180330117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 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 rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes acquiring current feature information of a plurality of antennas of the rotor UAV in real time. The antennas are disposed at substantially U-shaped landing gears of the rotor UAV. The method further includes selecting one of the antennas to establish a point-to-point communication link with a remote controller of the rotor UAV in accordance with the current feature information of the plurality of antennas. The antennas include spare antennas and current communication antennas, and a number of the spare antennas equals a number of the current communication antennas.

Claims

1. An antenna automatic alignment method for a rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

obtaining, by a controller onboard the rotor UAV in real time, current feature information of a plurality of antennas disposed at landing stands of the rotor UAV, the plurality of 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 remote controller of the rotor UAV, wherein the relative position information of the plurality of antennas includes current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV and current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV;

determining, by the controller, whether the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV and the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV 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 rotor UAV, 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 rotor UAV 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 rotor UAV; and

determining whether at least one of the plurality of position ranges covers the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV;

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

performing, by the controller, communication with the remote controller through the current communication antennas using the point-to-point communication link.

2. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein selecting the half of the plurality of antennas as the current communication antennas to establish the communication link with the remote controller includes selecting the half of the plurality of antennas to establish a multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) communication link with the remote controller.

3. 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) antennas, or a coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) antenna.

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

receiving current attitude information of the rotor UAV and preset attitude information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV;

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

5. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, in real time, current absolute position information of the remote controller and current absolute position information of the rotor UAV;

wherein the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV is obtained in accordance with the current absolute position information of the remote controller and the current absolute position information of the rotor UAV.

6. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, in real time, current absolute position information of the rotor UAV;

wherein the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV is obtained in accordance with position information of a take-off point of the rotor UAV and the current absolute position information of the rotor UAV.

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

selecting half of the plurality of antennas that correspond to one of the position ranges that covers the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV.

8. The antenna automatic alignment method according to claim 1, wherein the point-to-point communication link includes a visual range point-to-point communication link.

9. A rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

a plurality of landing stands;

a plurality of antennas disposed at the landing stands and 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 remote controller of the rotor UAV, wherein the relative position information of the plurality of antennas includes current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV and current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV;

determine whether the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV and the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV 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 rotor UAV, 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 rotor UAV 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 rotor UAV; and

determining whether at least one of the plurality of position ranges covers the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV;

select half of the plurality of antennas as current communication antennas for establishing a point-to-point communication link with the remote controller in accordance with the switching criterion, another half of the plurality of antennas being spare antennas not for using in current communication with the remote controller; and

perform communication with the remote controller through the selected one of the antennas.

10. The rotor UAV of claim 9, wherein the selected half of the plurality of antennas are configured to establish a visual range point-to-point communication link with the remote controller.

11. The rotor UAV of claim 9, wherein the antennas include at least one of a WiFi antenna, a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) antennas, or a coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) antenna.

12. The rotor UAV of claim 9, wherein the communication link is a multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) communication link.

13. The rotor UAV of claim 9, wherein the current position information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV is obtained in accordance with current attitude information of the rotor UAV and preset attitude information of the plurality of antennas relative to the rotor UAV.

14. The rotor UAV of claim 13, wherein the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV is obtained in accordance with current absolute position information of the remote controller and current absolute position information of the rotor UAV.

15. The rotor UAV of claim 13, wherein the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV is obtained in accordance with position information of a take-off point of the rotor UAV and current absolute position information of the rotor UAV.

16. The rotor UAV of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to select half of the plurality of antennas that correspond to one of the position ranges that covers the current position information of the remote controller relative to the rotor UAV.