METHOD FOR CONTROLLING HAND-OVER IN DRONE NETWORK

• US 20150327136A1
• Filed: 05/11/2015
• Published: 11/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
• Original Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
• Inventors: LEE, Suk Kyu, KIM, Hwang Nam, YOO, Seung Ho, KIM, Kang Ho, CHUNG, Albert Yong Joon, LEE, Ji Yeon, JUNG, Jong Tack
• Granted Patent: US 10,230,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/20 for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/24 for use as flying displays, e.g. advertising or billboards
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/695 for maintaining a fixed relative position of the vehicles, e.g. for convoy travelling or formation flight
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/6987 by centralised control off-board any of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2105/40 for communications, e.g. wireless network relays
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2107/17 Spaces with priority for humans, e.g. populated areas, pedestrian ways, parks or beaches
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2109/254 Flying platforms, e.g. multicopters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/03 Reselecting a link using a direct mode connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling hand-over in a drone network. A method for controlling hand-over in a drone network that is established by a plurality of drones that constitute a formation, and controlled by a ground control station (GCS) that controls the location, configuration and mobility of each of the plurality of drones according to the present invention includes a phase via which the GCS predicts, based on previously stored control information, a drone that is to be newly deployed or transferred from another formation and allocates network connection information to the drone thus predicted; a phase via which the GCS generates a virtual routing table including the drone that is thus predicted to be deployed or transferred; a phase via which the GCS, upon actual deploying or transferring the predicted drone, changes the virtual routing table into an actual routing table; and a phase via which the GCS, upon the drone thus deployed or transferred transmitting a control message of the formation routing protocol, calibrates and optimizes the routing table.

Claims

1. A method for controlling hand-over in a drone network that is established by a plurality of drones that constitute a formation, and controlled by a ground control station (GCS) that controls the location, configuration and mobility of each of the plurality of drones including:

a phase via which the GCS predicts, based on previously stored control information, a drone that is to be newly deployed or transferred from another formation and allocates network connection information to the drone thus predicted;

a phase via which the GCS generates a virtual routing table including the drone that is thus predicted to be deployed or transferred;

a phase via which the GCS, upon actual deploying or transferring the predicted drone, changes the virtual routing table into an actual routing table; and

a phase via which the GCS, upon the drone thus deployed or transferred transmitting a control message of the formation routing protocol, calibrates and optimizes the routing table.

2. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 1, wherein, in the virtual routing table generation phase, a routing table is generated based on either a simulation or a mathematical model.

3. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 1, wherein, in the virtual routing table generation phase, the drone generates a virtual routing table by receiving, from the GCS, the information of the drone thus predicted to be deployed or transferred in order to generate a virtual routing table.

4. A method for controlling hand-over in a drone network that is established by a plurality of drones that constitute a formation, and controlled by a ground control station (GCS) that controls the location, configuration and mobility of each of the plurality of drones including:

a phase via which the GCS collects information from the plurality of drones that constitute a formation and monitors in real time malfunctions or battery status of each of the plurality of drones;

a phase via which, upon finding a defective drone with malfunctions or inadequate battery capacity based on the monitoring activities, the GCS transfers a substitute drone that is to replace the defective drone to the defective drone location; and

a phase via which the GCS copies the network information of the defective drone onto the substitute drone.

5. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 4, wherein, in the substitute drone transferring phase, the GCS verifies whether the defective drone can make a flight and, if the defective drone cannot make a flight, controls the defective drone to allocate in advance, before being replaced, the network information of the defective drone to the substitute drone.

6. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 4, wherein, in the network information copying phase, the GCS receives from the defective drone the network information thereof and transfers the network information to the substitute drone.

7. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 4, wherein, in the network information copying phase, the GCS controls, via telemetry or a communication protocol, the defective drone to transfer the network information of the defective drone directly to the substitute drone.

8. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 7, wherein the network information copying phase includes:

a phase via which the GCS controls the substitute drone to allocate an arbitrary ID for peer-to-peer communications to the defective drone; and

a phase via which the GCS controls the defective drone to communicate with the substitute drone using the arbitrary ID thus allocated.

9. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 4, wherein the network information copying phase includes:

a phase via which the GCS controls the defective drone to provide services without an interruption during the copying activities; and

a phase via which the GCS controls the defective drone to store the packets received and transmitted during the copying activities in the cache of the defective drone.

10. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 9, wherein the network information copying phase additionally includes a phase via which the GCS controls the substitute drone, after the copying activities are completed, to receive the packets stored in the cache of the defective drone in order to restore messages lost or retransmit the packets to an adjacent drone.

11. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 4, wherein, in the network information copying phase, the GCS controls, if the defective drone cannot transfer the information of the defective drone to the substitute drone, the network information of the defective drone stored in the GCS or an adjacent drone to be transferred to the substitute drone.

12. A method for controlling hand-over in a drone network that is established by a plurality of drones that constitute a formation, and controlled by a ground control station (GCS) that controls the location, configuration and mobility of each of the plurality of drones including:

a phase via which the GCS schedules the movement information of the drones; and

a phase via which the GCS controls, if Drone 1 is to be deviated from a specific area where Drone 1 has been providing services, the user certification information in the specific area as well as the network information of Drone 1 to be transferred to Drone 2 that is to provide services in the specific area.

13. The method for controlling hand-over in a drone network of claim 12, wherein the method for controlling hand-over in a drone network additionally includes:

a phase via which the GCS predicts the direction in which a mobile station is to move; and

a preprocessing phase via which the GCS shares, if the mobile station is predicted to make an excursion from the area the current drone covers, network information with a drone which resides in the area the mobile station is predicted to move in.