Ground-sensitive trajectory generation for UAVs

• US 9,262,929 B1
• Filed: 05/10/2014
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wing Aviation LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fleck, Mathias Samuel, Graves, Roger William, Roy, Nick, Takayama, Leila
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US14/274,694
• Time in Patent Office: 647 Days
• Field of Search: 701 3- 4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft

Abstract

Embodiments described herein may help to automatically create flight plans that incorporate information regarding a number of different societal considerations. An illustrative computer-implemented method may involve receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable. For a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data may include one or more land-use indications for the geographic area that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area. The method may also involve, for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas: applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area; and sending an indication of the determined societal-consideration cost to a computer-based flight planner.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas;

applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining, using a computer-based flight planner, a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

providing instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

2. The method of claim 1:

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a predetermined weight corresponding to the type of land use to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the corresponding predetermined weight applied to at least one of the one or more land-use indications varies based on the time of day.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas having a permanent or temporary population density that is greater than a population threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one geographic area comprises a location of a temporary public gathering, and wherein the societal-consideration data comprises data received from an event planning database regarding the temporary public gathering.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of personal preferences for land use in at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the personal preferences for land use comprise user-provided data indicating a request for UAV travel to be constrained for the at least one geographic area.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user-provided data is received from a UAV travel-feedback database, wherein the UAV travel-feedback database stores a plurality of user-provided data indicating personal preferences for land use.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the societal-consideration data comprises semantic data collected from a web mapping service application regarding a plurality of locations where UAV travel should be constrained based on a type of land use at the location, wherein the semantic data for a given location of the plurality of locations identifies the type of land use at the location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV is further determined based on a predetermined importance measure of the flight plan, wherein the predetermined importance measure is indicative of an acceptable amount of societal-consideration costs to be incurred during flight of the particular UAV.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV is a flight plan that minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV indicates, for each of one or more segments of the flight plan, a minimum distance from obstacles for the UAV to maintain during the segment based on a societal-consideration cost for a geographic area that the UAV is configured to travel over during the segment.

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

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas;

applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

sending instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13:

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a predetermined weight corresponding to the type of land use to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas having a permanent or temporary population density that is greater than a population threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the determined flight plan minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.

17. A computing device, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that are executable to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas;

applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

sending instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

18. The computing device of claim 17:

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a corresponding predetermined weight to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the determined flight plan minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.