Technologies for managing data center assets using unmanned aerial vehicles

• US 9,944,390 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ljubuncic, Igor, Sack, Raphael, Rider, Tomer, Taite, Shahar, Vaughn, Robert L., Hassan, Vishwa, Giard, William L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brushaber, Frederick M
• Application Number:
  US15/056,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20170247108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• 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 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/225 based on a marking or identifier characterising the area
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/44 Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Technologies for managing assets of a data center include a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communicatively coupled to a remote computing device. The UAV is configured to navigate throughout a data center and capture data center mapping information during the navigation usable to generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of the data center. The UAV is further configured to transmit the captured data center mapping information to a remote computing device. Accordingly, the UAV can receive instructions from a remote computing device that define a type of task to be performed by the UAV in the data center and perform such a task (e.g., a data center map update task, an asset inventory task, a maintenance task, a visual inspection task, etc.) based on the received task instructions. Other embodiments are described and claimed herein.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for managing assets of a data center, the UAV comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more data storage devices having stored therein a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UAV to;

navigate throughout a data center;

capture data center mapping information during the navigation;

detect boundaries and obstructions within the data center based on the data center mapping information;

generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of the data center as a function of the detected boundaries and obstructions;

identify which of the detected obstructions are assets of the data center based on one or more identifiable characteristics of each of the detected obstructions;

update the 3D model to include the identified assets; and

generate, based on the 3D model and the identified assets, one or more flight paths through the data center to one or more of the identified assets.

2. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to navigate throughout the data center along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths.

3. The UAV of claim 1, wherein to capture the data center mapping information comprises capturing a series of images usable to generate the 3D model of the data center, and wherein to navigate throughout the data center comprises to navigate in a flight pattern conducive to capturing the series of images from which the 3D model of the data center is capable of being generated.

4. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to receive an indication from the remote computing device, wherein the indication indicates to map the data center and includes instruction on a flight path to be navigated throughout the data center, and wherein to navigate throughout the data center comprises to navigate throughout the data center in response to having received the indication from the remote computing device.

5. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

receive task instructions from the remote computing device, wherein the task instructions define a type of task to be performed by the UAV in the data center; and

perform a task in the data center based on the received task instructions,

wherein the task instructions include data collection settings that define which types of data are to be collected during performance of the task.

6. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform an identification of one or more of a plurality of server racks, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of a server rack of the plurality of server racks to be identified based on the task instructions;

detect, upon having navigated to the server rack, one or more identification characteristics of the server rack, wherein the one or more detected identification characteristics are usable to identify at least one of a type of the server rack and an orientation of the server rack; and

transmit the one or more detected identification characteristics to the remote computing device.

7. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform an inventory of a plurality of servers of the data center, wherein each of the plurality of servers is housed in one of a plurality of server racks of the data center, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of the server relative to a server rack of the plurality of server racks to be inventoried based on the task instructions;

scan a presently unscanned portion of the server rack;

determine whether a server of the plurality of servers has been detected by the scan;

collect, in response to a determination that the server has been detected by the scan, server inventory data of the detected server; and

transmit the collected server inventory data to the remote computing device.

8. The UAV of claim 7, wherein to collect the server inventory data comprises to collect at least one of identifying information of the server, status information of the server, and position information of the server relative to a bay of the server rack in which the server is housed.

9. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform maintenance on a server of a plurality of servers of the data center, wherein each of the plurality of servers is housed in one of a plurality of server racks of the data center, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of the server relative to a server rack of the plurality of server racks in which the server is housed;

connect to the server via a wireless communication channel; and

perform maintenance on the server based on the task instructions.

10. The UAV of claim 1, wherein to detect the boundaries and the obstructions within the data center based on the data center mapping information comprises to compare the data center mapping information against a known design model of the data center.

11. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to transmit the captured data center mapping information to a remote computing device wirelessly coupled to the UAV.

12. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that in response to being executed cause an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to:

navigate throughout a data center;

capture data center mapping information during the navigation;

detect boundaries and obstructions within the data center based on the data center mapping information;

generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of the data center as a function of the detected boundaries and obstructions;

identify which of the detected obstructions are assets of the data center based on one or more identifiable characteristics of each of the detected obstructions;

update the 3D model to include the identified assets; and

generate, based on the 3D model and the identified assets, one or more flight paths through the data center to one or more of the identified assets.

13. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to navigate throughout the data center along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths.

14. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein to capture the data center mapping information comprises to capture a series of images usable to generate the 3D model of the data center, and wherein to navigate throughout the data center comprises to navigate in a flight pattern conducive to capturing the series of images from which the 3D model of the data center is capable of being generated.

15. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to receive an indication from the remote computing device, wherein the indication indicates to map the data center and includes instruction on a flight path to be navigated throughout the data center, and wherein to navigate throughout the data center comprises to navigate throughout the data center in response to having received the indication from the remote computing device.

16. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

receive task instructions from the remote computing device, wherein the task instructions define a type of task to be performed by the UAV in the data center; and

perform a task in the data center based on the received task instructions,

wherein the task instructions include data collection settings that define which types of data are to be collected during performance of the task.

17. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform an identification of one or more of a plurality of server racks, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of a server rack of the plurality of server racks to be identified based on the task instructions;

detect, upon having navigated to the server rack, one or more identification characteristics of the server rack, wherein the one or more detected identification characteristics are usable to identify at least one of a type of the server rack and an orientation of the server rack; and

transmit the one or more detected identification characteristics to the remote computing device.

18. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform an inventory of a plurality of servers of the data center, wherein each of the plurality of servers is housed in one of a plurality of server racks of the data center, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of the server relative to a server rack of the plurality of server racks to be inventoried based on the task instructions;

scan a presently unscanned portion of the server rack;

determine whether a server of the plurality of servers has been detected by the scan;

collect, in response to a determination that the server has been detected by the scan, server inventory data of the detected server; and

transmit the collected server inventory data to the remote computing device.

19. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein to collect the server inventory data comprises to collect at least one of identifying information of the server, status information of the server, and position information of the server relative to a bay of the server rack in which the server is housed.

20. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform maintenance on a server of a plurality of servers of the data center, wherein each of the plurality of servers is housed in one of a plurality of server racks of the data center, and wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to:

navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, to a location of the server relative to a server rack of the plurality of server racks in which the server is housed;

connect to the server via a wireless communication channel; and

perform maintenance on the server based on the task instructions.

21. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein to detect the boundaries and the obstructions within the data center based on the data center mapping information comprises to compare the data center mapping information against a known design model of the data center.

22. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the UAV to transmit the captured data center mapping information to a remote computing device wirelessly coupled to the UAV.

23. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for managing assets of a data center, the UAV comprising:

a flight management circuit to manage navigation of the UAV throughout a data center;

means for capturing data center mapping information during the navigation

means for detecting boundaries and obstructions within the data center based on the data center mapping information;

means for generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of the data center as a function of the detected boundaries and obstructions;

means for identifying which of the detected obstructions are assets of the data center based on one or more identifiable characteristics of each of the detected obstructions;

means for updating the 3D model to include the identified assets; and

means for generating, based on the 3D model and the identified assets, one or more flight paths through the data center to one or more of the identified assets.

24. The UAV of claim 23, further comprising:

communication management circuitry to receive task instructions from the remote computing device, wherein the task instructions define a type of task to be performed by the UAV in the data center; and

means for performing a task in the data center based on the received task instructions,

wherein the task instructions include data collection settings that define which types of data are to be collected during performance of the task.

25. The UAV of claim 24, wherein the type of task to be performed indicates to perform maintenance on an asset of the identified assets of the data center,

wherein the flight management circuit is further to navigate, along a flight path of the one or more generated flight paths, the UAV to a location of asset, and

wherein the communication management circuitry is further to connect to the asset via a wireless communication channel,

further comprising means for performing maintenance on the asset based on the task instructions.