System for piloting a drone in immersion

• US 9,886,033 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2016
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Parrot Drones
• Original Assignee: Parrot Drones
• Inventors: Seydoux, Henri, Brulez, Nicolas, Ferrand, Arsene
• Primary Examiner(s): Antonucci, Anne M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malhotra, Sanjeev
• Application Number:
  US15/133,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20160313732A1
• Time in Patent Office: 658 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 701 3, 701 8, 701 19, 702141, 114 44, 348 1408, 348148, 244125, 244165, 345633, 482 37, 340576, 1 1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0033 by having the operator tracking the vehicle either by direct line of sight or via one or more cameras located remotely from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/12 Avionics applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/12 Synchronisation between the display unit and other units, e.g. other display units, video-disc players
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

The system comprises a drone and a ground station. The ground station includes a console provided with a directional antenna adapted to be directed towards the drone maintain the quality of the wireless link with the latter, and virtual reality glasses rendering images taken by a camera of the drone. The system comprises means for determining the position of the drone with respect to a heading of the console, and means for including in the images (I) rendered in the virtual reality glasses a visual indication (C, Ce, G, Id) of misalignment of the drone with respect to the console heading. Although he is isolated from the external real environment, the pilot is able, based on this visual indication, to reorient the console, typically by turning on himself, so that the directional antenna thereof suitably points towards the drone.

Claims

1. A system for piloting a drone in immersion, comprising the drone provided with an imaging means and a ground station communicating with the drone through a radio wireless link,

the ground station comprising:

a console orientated along a heading direction towards which the console points, the console being provided with a directional antenna adapted to be directed, by a user handling the console, towards the drone to maintain the quality of the wireless link;

a determination means for determining a direction of the drone;

virtual reality glasses rendering images taken by means of the imaging means and transmitted from the drone by the wireless link, as well as visual indications included in the rendered images; and

an indicating means for including among the visual indications an indication based on the direction of the drone;

wherein the determination means include

a means for determining an angular coordinate (γ

) defined between the heading direction of the console and the direction of the drone;

wherein the indicating means is a means sensitive to the determination means;

wherein the indication based on the direction of the drone is an indication of a misalignment of the direction of the drone with respect to the heading direction of the console,

and wherein the indication is a function of the determined angular coordinate (γ

), whereby allowing the user handling the console to perform a corrective action of reorientation of the console towards a reduction of the angular coordinate (γ

).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the position determination means comprise a magnetometer to determine the console heading.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the means for determining the angular coordinate (γ

) comprise a means for subtracting the heading angle (α

) of the console heading and the corresponding angle (β

) of the drone orientation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the position determination means comprise GPS positioning modules provided in the drone and in the ground station, and processing means for determining an orientation of the drone, corresponding to a line passing through the drone and the console, with respect to a direction of the North (N).

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the means for determining the angular coordinate (γ

) comprise a means for subtracting the heading angle (α

) of the console heading and the corresponding angle (β

) of the drone orientation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the position determining means comprise a means for comparing an angular position of the drone relative to a heading of the console with an angular template corresponding to an angular sector, centred on the heading, outside of which the wireless link is liable to be of bad quality, or lost.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the wireless link is adapted to operate in one of at least two modes corresponding to different directivities of the antenna, and also comprising means for selecting the angular template of good reception as a function of an active mode of the wireless link.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising means sensitive to the level of the wireless link signal received from the drone to selectively include or not the visual indication.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the visual indication is included in the case where the angular position of the drone is comprised in the angular template but the level of the signal is lower than a predetermined threshold, and is not included in the case where the angular position of the drone is not comprised in the angular template but the level of the signal is higher than a predetermined threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual indication comprises a visual signalling of the relative position of the console and of the drone, with a sector of a circle representative of an angular template of good reception, and a pictogram whose position is representative of an angular position of the drone with respect to the template.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual indication also comprises a set of directional arrows able to be each selectively displayed to indicate a desired direction of displacement for the console so as to bring the console heading towards the direction of the drone, the directional arrows comprising arrows towards the left and towards the right and/or towards the top and towards the bottom.