DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR COGNITIVE DRONE-SWARMS

• US 20170140655A1
• Filed: 01/30/2017
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pickover, Clifford A., Feris, Rogerio Schmidt, Erickson, Thomas David
• Granted Patent: US 10,163,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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: G06F 3/00 Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

A method, system, and recording medium including a drone and pattern recruiting device configured to recruit a plurality of drones based on a mission, a flocking goal device configured to arrange the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm in a pattern to satisfy the mission, and a changing device configured to adaptively change the pattern of the drone-swarm based on a condition of the mission indicating a needed change and to cause the drone and pattern recruiting device to recruit an additional drone for the needed change.

Claims

1. A dynamic management system for a drone-swarm, comprising:

a drone and pattern recruiting device configured to recruit a plurality of drones based on a flight plan mission for the drones;

a flocking goal device configured to arrange the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm in a pattern to satisfy the mission; and

a changing device configured to adaptively change the pattern of the drone-swarm based on a condition of the mission indicating a needed change and to cause the drone and pattern recruiting device to recruit an additional drone for the needed change.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional drone is not in the pattern at a time of the needed change.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone and pattern recruiting device recruits the plurality of drones from a hive,

the system further comprising a drone swapping device configured to swap a first drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm with a second drone from the hive.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the drone swapping device includes a drone condition monitoring device configured to monitor a drone condition of each drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a contextual resolution-assessing device configured to monitor the drone-swarm and assess a needed resolution of the pattern to sustain a goal with a predetermined risk level.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone and pattern recruiting device recruits the plurality of drones from a plurality of hives.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone and pattern recruiting device recruits the plurality of drones which comprise composite drones.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone and pattern recruiting device recruits the plurality of drones which comprise different physical characteristics based on the mission.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the drone swapping device includes a drone condition monitoring device configured to monitor a drone condition of each drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm, and

wherein the drone swapping device swaps the first drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm with the second drone that is not in the drone-swarm based on a drone condition of the first drone.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the needed change is based on the drone-swarm requiring additional drones having different characteristics to perform the mission than the plurality of drones currently in the drone-swarm.

11. A dynamic management method for a drone-swarm, comprising:

recruiting a plurality of drones based on a flight plan mission for the drones;

arranging the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm in a pattern to satisfy the mission;

adaptively changing the pattern of the drone-swarm based on a condition of the mission indicating a needed change; and

recruiting an additional drone for the needed change.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional drone is not in the pattern at a time of the needed change.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the recruiting recruits the plurality of drones from a hive,

the method further comprising swapping a first drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm with a second drone from the hive.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising monitoring a drone condition of each drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising monitoring the drone-swarm to assess a needed resolution of the pattern to sustain a goal with a predetermined risk level.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a dynamic management program for a drone-swarm, the program causing a computer to perform:

recruiting a plurality of drones based on a flight plan mission for the drones;

arranging the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm in a pattern to satisfy the mission;

adaptively changing the pattern of the drone-swarm based on a condition of the mission indicating a needed change; and

recruiting an additional drone for the needed change.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 16, wherein the additional drone is not in the pattern at a time of the needed change.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 16, wherein the recruiting recruits the plurality of drones from a hive,

the method further comprising swapping a first drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm with a second drone from the hive.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 18, further comprising monitoring a drone condition of each drone of the plurality of drones in the drone-swarm.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 16, further comprising monitoring the drone-swarm to assess a needed resolution of the pattern to sustain a goal with a predetermined risk level.