Dynamic collision-avoidance system and method

• US 10,062,294 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2016
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: Kunzi, Fabrice, Rogers, Donald, McKenna, Terrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M
• Application Number:
  US15/291,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20170301249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/87 Combinations of sonar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/93 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933

Abstract

An obstacle-avoidance system for a vehicle, the obstacle-avoidance system may comprise: a communication device; a plurality of sensors, the plurality of sensors configured to detect collision threats within a predetermined distance of the vehicle; and a processor. The processor may communicatively couple to the communication device and the plurality of sensors and configured to receive navigation commands being communicated to a control system via said communication device. The processor may also receive, from at least one of said plurality of sensors, obstruction data reflecting the position of an obstruction. Using the obstruction data, the processor identifies a direction for avoiding said obstruction. In response, the processor may output, via said communication device, a derivative command to said control system causing the vehicle to travel in said flight direction.

Claims

1. A collision-avoidance system for an autonomous aerial vehicle having a flight-control system, the collision-avoidance system comprising:

a communication device to communicate information between the flight-control system and a remote operator;

a plurality of sensors to detect collision threats within a predetermined distance of the autonomous aerial vehicle; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the communication device and each of the plurality of sensors,

wherein the processor is configured to receive a navigation command from the remote operator via said communication device,

wherein the processor is configured to generate, using at least one of said plurality of sensors, obstruction data reflecting a position of a collision threat,

wherein the processor is configured to generate, using said obstruction data, a derivative command to avoid the collision threat by attenuating the navigation command as a function of a distance between the autonomous aerial vehicle and the collision threat, and

wherein the processor is configured to output, via said communication device, the derivative command to the flight-control system.

2. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors is positioned on the autonomous aerial vehicle to detect collision threats in the autonomous aerial vehicle'"'"'s direction of travel.

3. The collision-avoidance system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises at least one echolocation sensor.

4. The collision-avoidance system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors is distributed on the autonomous aerial vehicle to provide a 360-degree field of view.

5. The collision-avoidance system of claim 2, wherein the derivative command instructs the autonomous aerial vehicle to perform a predetermined responsive maneuver if the distance between the autonomous aerial vehicle and the collision threat is less than a predetermined distance.

6. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the derivative command instructs the autonomous aerial vehicle to maintain a predetermined distance between the autonomous aerial vehicle and the collision threat.

7. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the flight-control system is an existing flight-control system of the autonomous aerial vehicle.

8. The collision-avoidance system of claim 7, wherein the obstacle-avoidance system is operatively coupled with the autonomous aerial vehicle without modification to the existing flight-control system.

9. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate, based at least in part on the obstruction data, a global environment estimate that reflects physical features of an area.

10. The collision-avoidance system of claim 9, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled with a processor-executable algorithm bank that extracts and stores to a database, via the processor, data concerning physical features of the area from the global environment estimate.

11. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled with a processor-executable algorithm bank that is configured to provide to the collision-avoidance system both a navigation algorithm and a collision-avoidance algorithm.

12. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a responsive action or a responsive maneuver to avoid a collision with the collision threat upon detection of the collision threat using the processor-executable algorithm bank.

13. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive navigation commands generated by an onboard autopilot.

14. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous aerial vehicle is a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (“

VTOL”

) aerial vehicle.

15. The collision-avoidance system of claim 14, wherein the VTOL aerial vehicle is a multi-rotor aerial vehicle.

16. The collision-avoidance system of claim 15, wherein the multi-rotor aerial vehicle comprises four rotors that are configured to provide lift to the multi-rotor aerial vehicle.

17. The collision-avoidance system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of sensors further comprises at least one vision-based sensor.

18. The collision-avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous aerial vehicle is configured to selectively operate in a precision mode and a performance mode.

19. The collision-avoidance system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to instruct the flight-control system to (1) maintain a first minimum distance between the autonomous aerial vehicle and the collision threat in the precision mode and (2) maintain a second minimum distance between the autonomous aerial vehicle and the collision threat in the performance mode.

20. The collision-avoidance system of claim 19, wherein the second minimum distance is greater than the first minimum distance.