DRONE COORDINATION

• US 20170278406A1
• Filed: 03/25/2016
• Published: 09/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Akselrod, Ben Z., Di Loreto, Anthony, McDuff, Steve, Robeson, Kyle D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,043,398 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 9/00 Traffic control systems for craft where the kind of craft is irrelevant or unspecified

Abstract

A system for drone coordination includes logic to detect an adverse weather condition and detect a plurality of drones operating in a region to be affected by the adverse weather condition. The logic can also transmit a request to the plurality of drones, wherein the request indicates that each of the plurality of drones is to return to an emergency landing site to be selected from a set of predetermined emergency landing sites. The emergency landing site for each drone can be based in part on the location of the drone at the time of transmittal of the request.

Claims

1. A system for drone coordination comprising logic to:

detect an adverse weather condition;

detect a plurality of drones operating in a region to be affected by the adverse weather condition; and

transmit a request to the plurality of drones, the request indicating that each of the plurality of drones is to return to an emergency landing site to be selected from a set of predetermined emergency landing sites, the emergency landing site for each drone to be based in part on the location of the drone at the time of transmittal of the request.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is to transmit a warning to non-operational drones in the region to wait for a predetermined period of time before operating the non-operational drones.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the predetermined period of time corresponds to a length of time for the adverse weather condition to subside in the region.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is to transmit a warning to non-operational drones in the region to wait for an approval signal before operating the non-operational drones.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is to:

calculate a flight path from a location of each drone to the emergency landing site corresponding to each drone; and

transmit the flight path to the each drone.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the logic is to

modify the calculated flight paths from the locations of at least two drones to emergency landing sites based in part on collision avoidance data;

and

transmit the modified flight paths to the at least two drones.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the flight path is based in part on a priority value for each drone and a priority value for each landing site.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the priority value for each drone is based in part on a battery level, cargo value, or drone size.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the priority value for each emergency landing site is based in part on a security level of the landing site, condition of the landing site, or proximity of the landing site.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein characteristics of the plurality of drones are registered before operation of the plurality of drones.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is to:

determine the emergency landing site is at capacity;

detect a priority value of a drone is below a threshold value; and

transmit a signal to the drone to land immediately.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the drones travel by air, water, or land.

13. A method for coordinating drones comprising:

detecting an adverse weather condition;

detecting a plurality of drones operating in a region to be affected by the adverse weather condition; and

transmitting a request to the plurality of drones, the request indicating that each of the plurality of drones is to return to an emergency landing site to be selected from a set of predetermined emergency landing sites, the emergency landing site for each drone to be based in part on the location of the drone at the time of transmittal of the request and a priority value corresponding to each drone.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising transmitting a warning to non-operational drones in the region to wait for a predetermined period of time before operating the non-operational drones.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined period of time corresponds to a length of time for the adverse weather condition to subside in the region.

16. The method of claim 13, comprising transmitting a warning to non-operational drones in the region to wait for an approval signal before operating the non-operational drones.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising:

calculating a flight path from a location of each drone to the emergency landing site corresponding to each drone; and

transmitting the flight path to the each drone.

18. A computer program product for coordinating drones, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

detect an adverse weather condition;

detect a plurality of drones operating in a region to be affected by the adverse weather condition; and

modify operation of the plurality of drones by transmitting a request to each of the drones, the request indicating that each of the drones is to return to an emergency landing site to be selected from a set of predetermined emergency landing sites, the emergency landing site for each drone to be based in part on the location of the drone at the time of transmittal of the request, a first priority value corresponding to the drone, and a second priority value corresponding to the emergency landing site.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the program instructions cause the processor to:

determine the emergency landing site is at capacity;

detect the priority value of the drone is below a threshold value; and

transmit a signal to the drone to land immediately.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the drones travel by air, water, or land.