Propeller sound alteration for a drone

• US 10,023,298 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beckman, Brian C., Rolnik, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Tissot, Adam D
• Application Number:
  US15/194,317
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 2220/00 Active noise reduction systems
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/21 Rotary wings
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping

Abstract

Techniques for using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to deliver a payload while reducing and/or altering sound generated by the UAV during delivery may be provided. For example, during delivery, the UAV may be instructed to utilize one or more sets of propellers of different sizes to reduce and/or alter the sound generated by and/or around the UAV. Intrinsic and extrinsic information associated with the UAV may be utilized to dynamically adjust the particular sets of propellers of a certain and different size to utilize during different portions of a flight path while delivering the payload.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

a frame;

a propulsion system associated with the frame, the propulsion system comprising;

a first motor associated with a first propeller of a first size, and

a second motor associated with a second propeller of a second size; and

a computing system configured to manage the propulsion system during a flight associated with delivery of a payload to a location, the computing system configured to;

modulate, from the first motor to the second motor based in part on a sound generated by the UAV during the flight to the location;

obtain input that identifies activation of a release mechanism of the UAV to deliver the payload to the location; and

instruct modulation of the first motor and the second motor based at least in part on the input.

2. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

receive information indicating that the first motor is malfunctioning; and

instruct the UAV to modulate to the second motor.

3. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

request, from a user associated with the location for the delivery of the payload, input regarding a sound level of the UAV during delivery;

update, by the computer system, a sound profile associated with the UAV based in part on the input from the user; and

instruct the UAV to modulate from the first motor to the second motor or from the second motor to the first motor to alter the sound generated by the UAV.

4. The UAV of claim 1, wherein the first propeller of the first size is a different material composition than the second propeller of the second size.

5. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

a frame;

a propulsion system associated with the frame, the propulsion system comprising;

one or more sets of propellers of different sizes; and

a computing system configured to manage the propulsion system during a flight associated with delivery of an item to a location, the computing system configured to;

generate a sound profile based on a first sound generated by the UAV during flight, the sound profile utilized to modulate, during flight, between a first set of propellers of a first size and a second set of propellers of a second size to alter the first sound generated by the UAV;

obtain input that identifies activation of a release mechanism of the UAV to deliver the item to the location; and

instruct modulation between the first set of propellers of the first size and the second set of propellers of the second size based at least in part on the input.

6. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the computing system is further configured to receive from a first sensor associated with the UAV, a second sound generated around the UAV based on sounds from the surrounding environment.

7. The UAV of claim 6, wherein generating the sound profile is further based in part on the second sound.

8. The UAV of claim 7, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

receive from the first sensor an updated first sound and an updated second sound;

update the sound profile based in part on the updated first sound and the updated second sound; and

instruct the UAV to modulate from the first set of propellers of the first size to the second set of propellers of the second size based at least in part on a sound metric of the updated sound profile and a threshold.

9. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the first set of propellers of the first size include one or more propeller dressings.

10. The UAV of claim 5, wherein modulating from the first set of propellers of the first size to the second set of propellers of the second size includes altering a rotational speed associated with the propellers of the second size.

11. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the computing system is further configured to determine a first rotational speed for the first set of propellers of the first size and a second rotational speed for the second set of propellers of the second size to generate an anti-sound by the UAV based at least in part on the sound profile, the anti-sound comprising frequencies that are approximately opposite of each other.

12. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the first set of propellers of the first size are angled relative to the UAV in a first position and the second set of propellers of the second size are angled relative to the UAV in a second position.

13. The UAV of claim 5, wherein the first sound is utilized to train a machine learning algorithm to generate subsequent sound profiles for the UAV using updated sounds generated by the UAV during flight.

14. The UAV of claim 5, wherein modulating from the first set of propellers of the first size to the second set of propellers of the second size is further based in part on a relative location of the UAV in a flight plan to deliver the item.

15. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

a frame;

a propulsion system associated with the frame, the propulsion system comprising;

one or more sets of propellers of different sizes; and

a computing system configured to manage the propulsion system during a flight associated with delivery of a package to a location, the computing system configured to;

modulate between sets of propellers of different sizes during the flight to alter a sound generated by the UAV;

obtain input that identifies activation of a release mechanism of the UAV to deliver the item to the location; and

instruct modulation between the one or more sets of propellers of different sizes based at least in part on the input.

16. The UAV of claim 15 further comprising a first sensor configured to obtain environmental input within a certain distance of the UAV during the flight, wherein the environmental input includes one or more of at least temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, a calendar date, cloud coverage, sunshine, surface conditions or textures within an environment, or a pollution level.

17. The UAV of claim 15, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

obtain performance metrics of a first set of propellers of a first size and a second set of propellers of a second size during flight; and

instruct the UAV to modulate from the first set of propellers to the second set of propellers based in part on the performance metrics indicating component failure.

18. The UAV of claim 15, wherein modulating from a first set of propellers of a first size to a second set of propellers of a second size, the first set of propellers of the first size and the second set of propellers of the second size of the one or more sets of propellers of different sizes, is based in part on a set of sound metrics associated with the sound generated by the UAV, the set of sound metrics including a decibel level, a loudness level, a sharpness level, a roughness level, and a fluctuation strength.

19. The UAV of claim 18, wherein modulating from the first set of propellers of the first size to the second set of propellers of the second size during flight is further based in part on metrics obtained from a first sensor and a second sensor and a threshold associated with the location.