Systems and methods for controlling an aerial vehicle using lateral propulsion and vertical movement

• US 10,558,219 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2017
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Loon, LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Loon, LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Vichik, Sergey, Behroozi, Cyrus, Boyce, Jr., C. O. Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US15/711,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20190086922A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 701 10
• CPC Class Codes: B64B 1/02 Non-rigid airships B64B1/58 takes precedence; balloons B64B1/40
• CPC Class Codes: B64B 1/62 Controlling gas pressure, heating, cooling, or discharging gas
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 19/02 Conjoint controls
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0204 to counteract a sudden perturbation, e.g. cross-wind, gust
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/046 to counteract a perturbation, e.g. gust of wind
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/101 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft

Abstract

An aerial vehicle control system includes an aerial vehicle and a computing device. The aerial vehicle includes an altitude controller and a lateral propulsion controller The computing device includes a processor and a memory. The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to obtain location data corresponding to a location of the aerial vehicle; obtain wind data; determine an altitude command, a latitude command, and a longitude command based on at least one of the location data or the wind data; cause the altitude controller to implement at least one of the altitude command, the latitude command, or the longitude command; and cause the lateral propulsion controller to implement at least one of the altitude command, the latitude command, or the longitude command.

Claims

1. An aerial vehicle control system for controlling a lighter-than-air aerial vehicle, the control system comprising:

a lighter-than-air aerial vehicle including;

an outer envelope;

one or more ballonets received within the outer envelope, the one or more ballonets being configured to control buoyancy of the aerial vehicle;

an altitude controller configured to adjust the buoyancy of the aerial vehicle by modifying a state of the one or more ballonets; and

a lateral propulsion controller configured to control one or more propellers of the aerial vehicle in order to manage at least one of position or movement of the aerial vehicle during flight; and

a computing device remote from the aerial vehicle, the computing device including;

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to;

obtain location data corresponding to a location of the aerial vehicle;

obtain wind data;

determine an altitude command and at least one of a latitude command and a longitude command, based on at least one of the location data or the wind data;

cause the altitude controller of the aerial vehicle to implement the altitude command to increase or decrease a mass of the aerial vehicle; and

cause the lateral propulsion controller of the aerial vehicle to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command to propel the aerial vehicle in a selected lateral direction.

2. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:

obtain a navigation command corresponding to at least one of a desired altitude of the aerial vehicle, a desired latitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, or a desired longitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle,

wherein determination of the altitude command and at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command is further based on the navigation command.

3. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 2, wherein the altitude command is implemented by the altitude controller to position the aerial vehicle at the desired altitude within a first tolerance threshold, and the at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command are implemented by the lateral propulsion controller to position the aerial vehicle at the desired latitude coordinate or the desired longitude coordinate within a second tolerance threshold.

4. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the location data includes at least one of:

altitude data corresponding to a current altitude of the aerial vehicle,

latitude data corresponding to a current latitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, or

longitude data corresponding to a current longitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, and

wherein determination of the altitude command and at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command is further based on at least one of the altitude data, the latitude data, or the longitude data.

5. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein:

the computing device is communicatively coupled to the aerial vehicle by way of a wireless communication link, and

the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to;

transmit the altitude command and at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command to the aerial vehicle via the wireless communication link, to;

cause the altitude controller to implement the altitude command, and

cause the lateral propulsion controller to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command.

6. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 5, wherein the aerial vehicle further includes a sensor configured to obtain at least a portion of the location data, and wherein the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:

obtain the at least the portion of the location data from the sensor by way of the wireless communication link.

7. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the wind data corresponds to wind at or near at least one of the location of the aerial vehicle or the altitude of the aerial vehicle.

8. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 7, wherein the wind data is obtained from a data source including at least one of a publicly available weather data source or a data source including data aggregated from a plurality of aerial vehicles.

9. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:

cause the lateral propulsion controller to actuate the one or more propellers based on at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command.

10. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

generate a maneuver plan; and

transmit the maneuver plan to the aerial vehicle for implementation by at least one of the altitude controller and the lateral propulsion controller.

11. The aerial vehicle control system of claim 10, wherein the maneuver plan is either a coordinate-based maneuver plan including one or more coordinate-based navigation commands or a vector-based maneuver plan including one or more vector-based navigation commands.

12. An aerial vehicle control method, comprising:

obtaining location data corresponding to a location of a lighter-than-air aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle including an outer envelope, one or more ballonets received within the outer envelope to control buoyancy of the aerial vehicle, an altitude controller configured to adjust the buoyancy of the aerial vehicle by modifying a state of the one or more ballonets, and a lateral propulsion controller configured to control one or more propellers of the aerial vehicle in order to manage at least one of position or movement of the aerial vehicle during flight;

obtaining wind data from a wind data source;

determining an altitude command and at least one of a latitude command and a longitude command based on at least one of the location data or the wind data;

causing the altitude controller of the aerial vehicle to implement the altitude command to increase or decrease a mass of the aerial vehicle; and

causing the lateral propulsion controller of the aerial vehicle to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command to propel the aerial vehicle in a selected lateral direction.

13. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining a navigation command corresponding to at least one of a desired altitude of the aerial vehicle, a desired latitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, or a desired longitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle,

wherein the determining of the altitude command and at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command is further based on the navigation command.

14. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 13, wherein the altitude command is implemented by the altitude controller to position the aerial vehicle at the desired altitude, within a first tolerance threshold, and the at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command are implemented by the lateral propulsion controller to position the aerial vehicle at the desired latitude coordinate or the desired longitude coordinate within a second tolerance threshold.

15. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 12,

wherein the location data includes at least one of:

altitude data corresponding to a current altitude of the aerial vehicle,

latitude data corresponding to a current latitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, or

longitude data corresponding to a current longitude coordinate of the aerial vehicle, and

wherein the determining of the altitude command and at least one of the latitude command and the longitude command is further based on at least one of the altitude data, the latitude data, or the longitude data.

16. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 12,

wherein the causing the altitude controller to implement the altitude command includes transmitting, from a computing device to the aerial vehicle by way of a wireless communication link, the altitude command, and

wherein the causing the lateral propulsion controller to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command includes transmitting, from the computing device to the aerial vehicle by way of the wireless communication link, the latitude command and the longitude command.

17. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 16, wherein the location data corresponding to the location of the aerial vehicle is obtained by the computing device from a sensor of the aerial vehicle by way of the wireless communication link.

18. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 12, wherein the wind data corresponds to wind at or near at least one of the location of the aerial vehicle or the altitude of the aerial vehicle, and wherein the wind data source includes at least one of a publicly available weather data source or a data source including data aggregated from a plurality of aerial vehicles.

19. The aerial vehicle control method of claim 12, wherein:

causing the altitude controller to implement the altitude command includes actuation of an air-gas altitude control system of the aerial vehicle based on the altitude command, and

causing the lateral propulsion controller to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command includes actuating the one or more propellers of the aerial vehicle based on at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

obtain location data corresponding to a location of a lighter-than-air aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle including an outer envelope, one or more ballonets received within the outer envelope to control buoyancy of the aerial vehicle, an altitude controller configured to adjust the buoyancy of the aerial vehicle by modifying a state of the one or more ballonets, and a lateral propulsion controller configured to control one or more propellers of the aerial vehicle in order to manage at least one of position or movement of the aerial vehicle during flight;

obtain wind data from a wind data source;

determine an altitude command and at least one of a latitude command and a longitude command based on at least one of the location data or the wind data;

cause the altitude controller of the aerial vehicle to implement the altitude command to increase or decrease a mass of the aerial vehicle; and

cause the lateral propulsion controller of the aerial vehicle to implement at least one of the latitude command or the longitude command to propel the aerial vehicle in a selected lateral direction.