Unmanned aerial system mission flight representation conversion techniques and traffic management scheme
First Claim
1. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) system, comprising:
- at least one first communication device that communicates with UAS mission planning elements to obtain representations of UAS flight plans from the UAS mission planning elements;
at least one second communication device that communicates with a plurality of data sources to obtain planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information;
a traffic management device that is programmed to;
convert obtained flight plan representations to a common format for analysis;
compare a particular converted flight plan representation to the obtained planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information to identify potential conflicts;
determine whether a UAS flight plan, based on the particular converted flight plan representation, is approved in view of the identified potential conflicts;
communicate a result of the determination to an operator of a UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan via the at least one first communication device;
evaluate whether any of the identified potential conflicts present actual conflicts to execution of the UAS flight plan based on the particular converted flight plan representation, the particular flight plan representation specifying a first airspace volume in which a full scope of the UAS flight plan is conducted;
when an actual conflict exists, determine one or more conflict mitigation strategies, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies includes limiting operations according to the UAS flight plan to a second airspace volume within the first airspace volume, the particular flight plan representation being in a form of a box specifying lateral geographic limitations of the box and a maximum altitude that the UAS platform operating according to the UAS flight plan reaches, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies limiting the operations according to the UAS flight plan to the second airspace volume by specifying at least one of a displacement of one or more of the lateral geographic limitations of the box and a limitation less than the maximum altitude specified in the UAS flight plan; and
communicate the determined one or more conflict mitigation strategies to the operator of the UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan via the at least one first communication device.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are provided for implementing unmanned aircraft system (UAS) deconfliction schemes by accepting representations of UAS flight plans in disparate native forms, and to converting them into a common format in support of evaluating potential conflicts, and providing flight plan approval/disapproval, and/or flight plan execution restrictions or warnings regarding potentially conflicting manned and unmanned aerial vehicle operations. The disclosed UAS Traffic Management (UTM) scheme may validate a UAS flight plan based on the provided flight plan representation, approving or disapproving the flight plan, and may provide suggestions for modification of a submitted UAS flight plan to enhance operational deconfliction without completely rejecting, through disapproval, the flight plan. Different levels of alerts and/or warnings may be provided to alert the UAS platform operators and National Airspace System operators/controllers to potential conflicts and conflict avoidance.
-
Citations
11 Claims
-
1. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) system, comprising:
-
at least one first communication device that communicates with UAS mission planning elements to obtain representations of UAS flight plans from the UAS mission planning elements; at least one second communication device that communicates with a plurality of data sources to obtain planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information; a traffic management device that is programmed to; convert obtained flight plan representations to a common format for analysis; compare a particular converted flight plan representation to the obtained planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information to identify potential conflicts; determine whether a UAS flight plan, based on the particular converted flight plan representation, is approved in view of the identified potential conflicts; communicate a result of the determination to an operator of a UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan via the at least one first communication device; evaluate whether any of the identified potential conflicts present actual conflicts to execution of the UAS flight plan based on the particular converted flight plan representation, the particular flight plan representation specifying a first airspace volume in which a full scope of the UAS flight plan is conducted; when an actual conflict exists, determine one or more conflict mitigation strategies, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies includes limiting operations according to the UAS flight plan to a second airspace volume within the first airspace volume, the particular flight plan representation being in a form of a box specifying lateral geographic limitations of the box and a maximum altitude that the UAS platform operating according to the UAS flight plan reaches, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies limiting the operations according to the UAS flight plan to the second airspace volume by specifying at least one of a displacement of one or more of the lateral geographic limitations of the box and a limitation less than the maximum altitude specified in the UAS flight plan; and communicate the determined one or more conflict mitigation strategies to the operator of the UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan via the at least one first communication device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for UAS traffic management (UTM), comprising:
-
obtaining, by a processor, representations of UAS flight plans from UAS mission planning elements; converting, by the processor, the obtained flight plan representations to a common format for analysis; establishing communications with a plurality of data sources to obtain planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information; comparing, by the processor, a particular converted flight plan representation to the obtained planned and actual aerial vehicle operation information to identify potential conflicts; determining, by the processor, whether a UAS flight plan based on the particular converted flight plan representation is approved in view of identified potential conflicts; communicating a result of the determination to an operator of a UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan; evaluating, by the processor, whether any of the identified potential conflicts present actual conflicts to execution of the UAS flight plan based on the particular converted flight plan representation, the particular flight plan representation specifying a first airspace volume in which a full scope of the UAS flight plan is conducted; when an actual conflict exists, determining, by the processor, one or more conflict mitigation strategies, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies includes limiting operations according to the UAS flight plan to a second airspace volume within the first airspace volume, the particular flight plan representation being in a form of a box specifying lateral geographic limitations of the box and a maximum altitude that the UAS platform operating according to the UAS flight plan reaches, the one or more conflict mitigation strategies limiting the operations according to the UAS flight plan to the second airspace volume by specifying at least one of a displacement of one or more of the lateral geographic limitations of the box and a limitation less than the maximum altitude specified in the UAS flight plan; and communicating the determined one or more conflict mitigation strategies to the operator of the UAS platform associated with the UAS flight plan. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
-
Specification