Method and system for autonomous tracking of a mobile target by an unmanned aerial vehicle
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- identifying at least one coordinate of a footprint of a sensor tracking a target, wherein the sensor is equipped on an unmanned aerial vehicle;
determining if the target will leave a field of view of the sensor; and
employing a track mode selected from a plurality of track modes based on a first speed of the target and a second speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle;
causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly in the employed track mode to keep the target in the field of view of the sensor.
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Abstract
This invention provides a system and method for autonomously tracking a moving target from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a variety of airframe and sensor payload capabilities so that the target remains within the vehicle'"'"'s sensor field of view regardless of the specific target motion patterns. The invention uses information about target location, UAV platform type and states, sensor payload capability, and ratio of target-to-UAV speeds to select from a suite of sub-algorithms, each of which generates desired platform positions (in form of waypoints) and/or sensor orientation commands to keep the target in view.
27 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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identifying at least one coordinate of a footprint of a sensor tracking a target, wherein the sensor is equipped on an unmanned aerial vehicle; determining if the target will leave a field of view of the sensor; and employing a track mode selected from a plurality of track modes based on a first speed of the target and a second speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle; causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly in the employed track mode to keep the target in the field of view of the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system comprising:
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a communication interface; a processing unit; data storage; and program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processing unit to (i) identify at least one coordinate of a footprint of a sensor tracking a target, wherein the sensor is equipped on an unmanned aerial vehicle;
(ii) determine if the target will leave a field of view of the sensor;
iii) employ a track mode selected from a plurality of track modes based on a first speed of the target and a second speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and
(iv) cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly in the employed track mode to maintain the target in the field of view of the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method comprising:
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determining a position of a target relative to the center of a sensor footprint; determining the distance from the center of the sensor footprint to a side of the sensor footprint that is closest to the target; determining a first speed of the target; determining a second speed of an unmanned aerial vehicle; employing a track mode selected from a plurality of track modes based on the first speed of the target and the second speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly in the employed track mode to maintain the target within a field of view of the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification