GROUND STATION, UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE, AND SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN GROUND STATION AND UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

• US 20180315320A1
• Filed: 01/16/2017
• Published: 11/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guangzhou Xaircraft Technology Co., Ltd
• Original Assignee: Guangzhou Xaircraft Technology Co., Ltd
• Inventors: OUYANG, Yuji, XIE, Anping
• Granted Patent: US 10,885,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• 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: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• 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: 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: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A ground station, an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a system and method for communication between a ground station and at least one unmanned aerial vehicle are provided. The present disclosure relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle communications and solves a problem that multiple applications cannot normally communicate with multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. The ground station includes a first communication component and a transaction schedule component, and the transaction schedule component stores at least one transaction frame of at least one application, also controls the first communication component to send the at least one transaction frame to a target unmanned aerial vehicle or acquires at least one data frame received by the first communication component, and provides the at least one data frame for at least one application in the ground station. The target unmanned aerial vehicle includes a second communication component and a flight controller, and the second communication component receives the at least one transaction frame sent by the ground station; the flight controller acquires the at least one transaction frame received by the second communication component, and controls the target unmanned aerial vehicle to execute at least one operation indicated by the at least one transaction frame; and the flight controller further controls the second communication component to return the at least one data frame to the ground station.

Claims

1. A ground station, comprising:

a first communication component and a transaction schedule component configured to be connected with the first communication component,

wherein the transaction schedule component is further configured to;

store at least one transaction frame generated by at least one application in the ground station,

control the first communication component to send the at least one transaction frame to a target unmanned aerial vehicle,

acquire at least one data frame received by the first communication component, and

provide the at least one data frame for the at least one application in the ground station, and

wherein the at least one application is configured to operate the target unmanned aerial vehicle.

2. The ground station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transaction schedule component comprises a receiving element, a first storage element, a detection element, a pairing element and a feedback element;

the receiving element is configured to receive at least one pairing request of the at least one application, wherein the at least one pairing request is used for requesting for controlling the transaction schedule component to establish a communication link between the first communication component and the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

the first storage element is configured to store configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

the detection element is configured to detect whether the first storage element stores the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

the pairing element is configured to;

control, when the first storage element does not store the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the first communication component to send a two-party pairing request to the target unmanned aerial vehicle,

store, after the first communication component receives the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the configuration information in the first storage element, and

feed successful pairing information back to the at least one application; and

the feedback element is configured to feed, when the first storage element stores the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the successful pairing information back to the at least one application.

3. The ground station as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the at least one transaction frame comprises a priority;

the transaction schedule component comprises a priority element; and

the priority element is configured to;

select a highest-priority transaction frame from the at least one transaction frame at an interval of a transaction frame extraction period, and

control the first communication component to send the highest-priority transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle.

4. The ground station as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one transaction frame comprises a read transaction frame, a write transaction frame and a realtime transaction frame;

wherein a priority of the realtime transaction frame is higher than a priority of the read transaction frame and a priority of the write transaction frame; and

the priority of the write transaction frame is higher than the priority of the read transaction frame.

5. The ground station as claimed in claim 3, wherein the transaction schedule component comprises a priority update element, and the priority update element is configured to improve, after the highest-priority transaction frame in the transaction schedule component is sent, priority of other transaction frames in the transaction schedule component.

6. The ground station as claimed in claim 4, wherein the transaction schedule component comprises a second storage element and an addition element;

the second storage element is configured to store the at least one transaction frame; and

the addition element is configured to add the read transaction frame into the second storage element.

7. The ground station as claimed in claim 6, wherein the addition element is configured to:

add the read transaction frame into the second storage element periodically;

or

add, when every p transaction frames are stored in the second storage element, one read transaction frame into the second storage element, and p is a positive integer greater than zero.

8. The ground station as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transaction schedule component further comprises a third storage element and a data response element;

wherein the third storage element is configured to store the at least one data frame acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle through the first communication component; and

wherein the data response element is configured to provide, when the at least one application requests the transaction schedule component for the at least one data frame of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the at least one data frame which is stored in the third storage element and acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle most recently for the at least one application.

9. The ground station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transaction schedule component comprises a sending control element, and the sending control element is configured to control the first communication component to send one transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle until a reply frame corresponding to this one transaction frame is received or until a reply frame corresponding to this one transaction frame is not yet received after a preset duration is exceeded, the first communication component to send a next transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle.

31. The ground station as claimed in claim 7, wherein the transaction schedule component further comprises a third storage element and a data response element;

the third storage element is configured to store the at least one data frame acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle through the first communication component; and

the data response element is configured to provide, when the at least one application requests the transaction schedule component for the at least one data frame of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the at least one data frame which is stored in the third storage element and acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle most recently for the at least one application.

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16. A method for communication between a ground station and at least one unmanned aerial vehicle, the ground station comprising a first communication component configured to send at least one transaction frame to a target unmanned aerial vehicle or receive at least one data frame sent by the target unmanned aerial vehicle, the method comprising:

establishing a realtime transaction schedule pool;

storing the at least one transaction frame generated by at least one application in the ground station by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool, and the at least one application is configured to operate the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

controlling the first communication component to send the at least one transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool; and

acquiring at least one data frame received by the first communication component by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool, and providing the at least one data frame for the at least one application in the ground station.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein before storing the at least one transaction frame generated by the at least one application in the ground station by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool, the method further comprises:

receiving a pairing request of the at least one application, the pairing request configured to request for controlling the realtime transaction schedule pool to establish a communication link between the first communication component and the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

detecting whether the realtime transaction schedule pool stores configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle;

when the realtime transaction schedule pool does not store the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, controlling the first communication component to send a two-party pairing request to the target unmanned aerial vehicle, after the first communication component receives the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, storing the configuration information in a first storage element of the ground station, and feeding successful pairing information back to the at least one application; and

when the realtime transaction schedule pool stores the configuration information of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, feeding the successful pairing information back to the at least one application.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein each of the at least one transaction frame comprises a priority;

and controlling, by the ground station, the first communication component to send the at least one transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool, wherein the controlling the first communication component comprises;

selecting a highest-priority transaction frame from the at least one transaction frame at an interval of a transaction frame extraction period, and

controlling the first communication component to send the highest-priority transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the at least one transaction frame comprises a read transaction frame, a write transaction frame and a realtime transaction frame;

a priority of the realtime transaction frame is higher than a priority of the read transaction frame and a priority of the write transaction frame; and

the priority of the write transaction frame is higher than the priority of the read transaction frame;

or

wherein after controlling the first communication component to send the highest-priority transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle by utilizing the realtime transaction schedule pool, the method further comprises;

improving priority of other transaction frames in the realtime transaction schedule pool.

21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein further comprising:

adding the read transaction frame into the realtime transaction schedule pool.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein adding the read transaction frame into the realtime transaction schedule pool comprises:

adding the read transaction frame into the realtime transaction schedule pool periodically;

or, when every p transaction frames are stored in the realtime transaction schedule pool, adding one read transaction frame into the realtime transaction schedule pool, and p is a positive integer greater than zero.

23. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:

controlling the realtime transaction schedule pool to acquire the at least one data frame from the first communication component, and storing the at least one data frame; and

when the at least one application requests the realtime transaction schedule pool for the at least one data frame of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, providing, by the realtime transaction schedule pool, the at least one data frame, acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle most recently by the first communication component, for the at least one application.

24. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:

when the realtime transaction schedule pool controls the first communication component to send one transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle until a reply frame corresponding to this one transaction frame is received, controlling the first communication component to send a next transaction frame to the corresponding target unmanned aerial vehicle;

or

when the realtime transaction schedule pool controls the first communication component to send one transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle until a reply frame corresponding to this one transaction frame is not yet received after a preset duration is exceeded, controlling the first communication component to send a next transaction frame to the target unmanned aerial vehicle.

32. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein further comprising:

controlling the realtime transaction schedule pool to acquire the at least one data frame from the first communication component, and storing the at least one data frame; and

when the at least one application requests the realtime transaction schedule pool for the at least one data frame of the target unmanned aerial vehicle, providing, by the realtime transaction schedule pool, the at least one data frame, acquired from the target unmanned aerial vehicle most recently by the first communication component, for the at least one application.

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