COLLECTIVE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20160378108A1
• Filed: 02/19/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Elzinga, Michael John, Nguyen, Luan Khai, Paczan, Nathan Michael, Hsieh, Raphael
• Granted Patent: US 11,480,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 37/02 Flying units formed by separate aircraft towing B64D3/00; aircraft transported by aircraft B64D5/00; air-refuelling B64D39/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 31/06 actuated automatically
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/00 Constructional aspects of UAVs of lift-producing means B64U30/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/102 adapted for flying in formations
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping

Abstract

This disclosure describes a collective UAV in which multiple UAVs may be coupled together to form the collective UAV. A collective UAV may be used to aerially transport virtually any size, weight or quantity of items, travel longer distances, etc. For example, rather than using one large UAV to carry a larger or heavier item, multiple smaller UAVs may couple together to form a collective UAV that is used to carry the larger or heavier item.

Claims

1. A collective unmanned aerial vehicle (“

UAV”

), comprising;

a first UAV, including;

a first motor and a second motor;

a first propeller coupled to the first motor;

a second propeller coupled to the second motor;

a first UAV control system configured to provide rotational speed instructions to each of the first motor and the second motor;

a first power module configured to provide power to at least one of the first UAV control system, the first motor, or the second motor;

a first connection component configured to connect the first UAV with a second UAV;

the second UAV removably coupled to the first UAV, including;

a third motor and a fourth motor;

a third propeller coupled to the third motor;

a fourth propeller coupled to the fourth motor;

a second connection component configured to couple the second UAV with the first UAV;

a second power module configured to provide power to at least one of a second UAV control system, the third motor, or the fourth motor;

the second UAV control system configured to provide rotational speed instructions to each of the third motor and the fourth motor, wherein the second UAV control system is further configured to at least;

receive first UAV configuration information from the first UAV;

determine a collective UAV configuration based at least in part on the first UAV configuration and a second UAV configuration for the second UAV;

determine a rotational speed for the third motor, wherein the rotational speed is determined based at least in part on the collective UAV configuration; and

send a rotational speed instruction to the third motor to adjust the rotational speed of the third motor.

2. The collective UAV of claim 1, wherein the rotational speed instruction is an instruction for the third motor to stop a rotation of the third propeller.

3. The collective UAV of claim 1, wherein the first connection component of the first UAV is coupled to the second connection component of the second UAV.

4. The collective UAV of claim 3, wherein at least one of data or power may be exchanged between the first UAV and the second UAV between the first connection component and the second connection component.

5. The collective UAV of claim 1, wherein the first connection component and the second connection component provide at least one of an electrical coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV, a mechanical coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV, an electromechanical coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV, a magnetic coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV, or an optical coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV.

6. A method to provide aerial delivery of an item to a delivery destination, the method comprising:

coupling the item to a first unmanned aerial vehicle (“

UAV”

), wherein the first UAV is capable of aerial navigation;

coupling the first UAV to a second UAV, wherein the second UAV is capable of aerial navigation;

aerially transporting the item, using the first UAV coupled with the second UAV, to a delivery area; and

delivering the item to the delivery destination within the delivery area.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

aerially navigating the first UAV and the second UAV to a location within the delivery area;

decoupling the first UAV from the second UAV; and

aerially transporting the item using the first UAV from the location to the delivery destination.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a second item is coupled to the second UAV and the second UAV is configured to aerially transport the second item to a second delivery destination.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a request from a third UAV to couple with at least one of the first UAV or the second UAV;

determining a collective UAV configuration for a coupling of the first UAV, the second UAV, and the third UAV; and

instructing the third UAV to couple with at least one of the first UAV or the second UAV according to the collective UAV configuration.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining that a first flight plan of the third UAV and a second flight plan of the coupled first UAV and second UAV are complementary.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting a decoupling of the second UAV from at least one of the first UAV or the third UAV;

determining an updated collective UAV configuration based at least in part on the first UAV and the third UAV;

determining that the updated collective UAV configuration is to be reconfigured; and

causing a reconfiguration of a coupling between the first UAV and the third UAV.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a resource distribution for distributing resources between the first UAV and the second UAV while coupled.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the resources include at least one of:

a power module, a computing component, a navigation component, a camera, a motor, or a control system.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coupling between the first UAV and the second UAV, a rotational speed for at least one motor of a plurality of motors of the first UAV.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein coupling the first UAV and the second UAV is done during aerial transport of the item.

16. A computer implemented method, comprising:

under control of one or more computing systems configured with executable instructions,

determining a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (“

UAV”

) each having a complementary flight plan during a defined time window;

determining a collective UAV configuration in which each UAV of the plurality of UAVs is coupled to at least one other UAV of the plurality of UAVs; and

instructing each of the plurality of UAVs to couple with at least one other UAV of the plurality of UAVs according to the collective UAV configuration to form a collective UAV.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining a collective UAV resource distribution for the collective UAV; and

instructing each of the plurality of UAVs to distribute resources according to the collective UAV resource distribution.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:

instructing each of the plurality of UAVs to aerially navigate while coupled to the at least one other UAV of the plurality of UAVs.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the plurality of UAVs is coupled to an item that is to be aerially transported to a delivery destination.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the plurality of UAVs is not coupled to an item that is to be aerially transported to a delivery destination.