Multi-part navigation process by an unmanned aerial vehicle for navigating to a medical situatiion

• US 8,930,044 B1
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wing Aviation LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Peeters, Eric, Teller, Eric, Patrick, William Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): WONG, YUEN H
• Application Number:
  US13/730,317
• Time in Patent Office: 739 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2, 709/201
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 19/00 Aircraft control not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/14 with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/57 for bringing emergency supplies to persons or animals in danger, e.g. ropes or life vests
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/00 UAVs characterised by their flight controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/299 Rotor guards ducted or shrouded rotors B64U30/26; guards used as ground propulsion B64U60/60
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/882 for altimeters measuring height using barometric means G01C5/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/935 for terrain-avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/93 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/12 Target-seeking control
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/227 Handing over between remote control and on-board control; Handing over between remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/247 using signals provided by artificial sources external to the vehicle, e.g. navigation beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/248 generated by satellites, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/667 : Delivering or retrieving payloads
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2105/55 : for emergency activities, e.g. search and rescue, traffic accidents or fire fighting
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2107/17 : Spaces with priority for humans, e.g. populated areas, pedestrian ways, parks or beaches
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2109/22 : with fixed wings
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2111/30 : Radio signals
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 : specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft

Abstract

Embodiments described herein may relate to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigating to a medical situation in order to provide medical support. An illustrative method involves a UAV (a) determining an approximate target location associated with a medical situation, (b) using a first navigation process to navigate the UAV to the approximate target location, where the first navigation process generates flight-control signals based on the approximate target location, (c) making a determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location, and (d) in response to the determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location, using a second navigation process to navigate the UAV to the medical situation, wherein the second navigation process generates flight-control signals based on real-time localization of the medical situation.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

a navigation module that provides both a first and a second navigation process to generate flight-control signals for a UAV, wherein the first navigation process generates first flight-control signals based on a predetermined location of a medical situation, and wherein the second navigation process generates second flight-control signals based on a real-time localization process that locates the medical situation in real-time; and

a control system configured to;

determine an approximate target location associated with the medical situation;

use the first navigation process to navigate the UAV from a remote location to the approximate target location of the medical situation;

make a determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation; and

in response to the determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation, switch to use of the second navigation process to locate, and navigate the UAV to, the medical situation.

2. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the approximate target location comprises a geographic location of a remote device, wherein the remote device is associated with the medical situation.

3. The UAV of claim 2, wherein the geographic location of the remote device comprises GPS coordinates.

4. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the first navigation process generates the first flight-control commands based on predetermined waypoints that provide a route to the approximate target location.

5. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the real-time localization process comprises at least one of:

(a) an environment-sensing localization process and (b) a beacon-sensing localization process.

6. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the real-time localization process comprises a beacon-sensing localization process to locate and navigate to a source of a beacon signal, wherein the source is a remote device that is associated with the medical situation.

7. The UAV of claim 6, wherein the remote device is at least one of:

(a) a mobile phone, (b) a tablet computer, and (c) a laptop computer.

8. The UAV of claim 6, wherein the remote device is another UAV located at the scene of the medical situation.

9. The UAV of claim 6, wherein the beacon-sensing localization process comprises:

detecting the beacon signal;

determining a security key that is encoded in the beacon signal; and

determining whether or not the security key matches a predefined security key for the medical situation, wherein navigation to the source of the beacon signal is conditioned upon the security key matching a predefined security key for the medical situation.

10. The UAV of claim 9, wherein the predefined security key was generated and sent to the remote device in response to a request for medical support made by the remote device.

11. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing system of a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an approximate target location associated with a medical situation;

using, by the computing system, a first navigation process to navigate the UAV from a remote location to the approximate target location of the medical situation, wherein the first navigation process generates first flight-control signals based on the approximate target location of a medical situation;

making, by the computing system, a determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation; and

in response to the determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation, using, by the computing system, a second navigation process to navigate the UAV to the medical situation, wherein the second navigation process generates second flight-control signals based on real-time localization of the medical situation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein using the first navigation process comprises generating flight-control commands based on predetermined waypoints that provide a route to the approximate target location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the real-time localization process comprises at least one of:

(a) an environment-sensing localization process and (b) a beacon-sensing localization process.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the real-time localization process comprises a beacon-sensing localization process for locating and navigating to a source of a beacon signal, wherein the beacon-sensing localization process comprises:

detecting the beacon signal;

determining a security key that is encoded in the beacon signal; and

determining whether or not the security key matches a predefined security key for the medical situation, wherein navigation to the source of the beacon signal is conditioned upon the security key matching a predefined security key for the medical situation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predefined security key was generated and sent to the remote device in response to a request for medical support made by the remote device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the second navigation process comprises:

using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation;

if a predetermined period of time has elapsed without locating the medical situation, then;

determining that the autonomous real-time localization is unsuccessful; and

responsively implementing a fallback process to locate and navigate to the medical situation; and

if the predetermined period of time has not elapsed, then continuing to use the autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the fallback process comprises at least one of:

(a) causing the UAV to switch to a remote-control mode where the UAV is controllable by a remote computing system and (b) causing the UAV to switch to a local-assistance mode where the UAV seeks local assistance.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the second navigation process comprises:

using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation, wherein the UAV moves through a search area while using the autonomous real-time localization process, and wherein the search area is determined based on the approximate target location;

if the UAV has covered the entire search area without locating the medical situation, then;

determining that the autonomous real-time localization is unsuccessful; and

responsively implementing a fallback process to locate and navigate to the medical situation; and

if the UAV has not covered the entire search area without locating the medical situation, then using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions that are executable to cause a computing device to perform functions comprising:

determining an approximate target location associated with a medical situation;

using a first navigation process to navigate an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a remote location to the approximate target location of the medical situation, wherein the first navigation process generates first flight-control signals based on the approximate target location of a medical situation;

making a determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation; and

in response to the determination that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation, using a second navigation process to navigate the UAV to the medical situation, wherein the second navigation process generates second flight-control signals based on real-time localization of the medical situation.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the real-time localization process comprises at least one of:

(a) an environment-sensing localization process and (b) a beacon-sensing localization process.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the real-time localization process comprises a beacon-sensing localization process for locating and navigating to a source of a beacon signal, wherein the beacon-sensing localization process comprises:

detecting the beacon signal;

determining a security key that is encoded in the beacon signal; and

determining whether or not the security key matches a predefined security key for the medical situation, wherein navigation to the source of the beacon signal is conditioned upon the security key matching a predefined security key for the medical situation.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the second navigation process comprises:

using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation;

if a predetermined period of time has elapsed without locating the medical situation, then;

determining that the autonomous real-time localization is unsuccessful; and

responsively implementing a fallback process to locate and navigate to the medical situation; and

if the predetermined period of time has not elapsed, then continuing to use the autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the fallback process comprises at least one of:

(a) causing the UAV to switch to a remote-control mode in which the UAV is controllable by a remote computing system and (b) causing the UAV to switch to a local-assistance mode in which the UAV seeks local assistance.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the second navigation process comprises:

using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation, wherein the UAV moves through a search area while using the autonomous real-time localization process, and wherein the search area is determined based on the approximate target location;

if the UAV has covered the entire search area without locating the medical situation, then;

determining that the autonomous real-time localization is unsuccessful; and

responsively implementing a fallback process to locate and navigate to the medical situation; and

if the UAV has not covered the entire search area without locating the medical situation, then using an autonomous real-time localization process in an effort to locate the medical situation.

25. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an approximate target location associated with a medical situation;

using, by the computing system, a first navigation process to navigate the UAV from a remote location to the approximate target location of the medical situation, wherein the first navigation process generates first flight-control signals based on the approximate target location of a medical situation;

either;

(a) making a determination, by the computing system, that the UAV is located at the approximate target location of the medical situation or (b) receiving, by the computing system, local target-location data that is usable to navigate to the medical situation;

in response to either (a) or (b), using, by the computing system, a second navigation process to navigate the UAV to the medical situation, wherein the second navigation process generates second flight-control signals based on real-time localization of the medical situation.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the real-time localization comprises using the local target-location data to generate the second flight-control signals to navigate to the medical situation.