System and method for operating uncrewed craft

Abstract

A system and method for operating uncrewed craft, such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drones 14, 15. Plural radar beacons 16, 17 are arranged about, e.g. in a path through, an area to be monitore

Description

Technical Field

[001] The present disclosure relates to safety / guidance systems for uncrewed vehicles / craft, e.g. aerial drones. Particularly, the system is implemented to enable drones to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), autonomously (monitored) within "A-typical" airspace, i.e. where drones and any other aerial vehicles are not normally allowed to fly, such as near Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), e.g. around power lines, railway lines, power stations and offshore energy installations, etc. Background

[002] A significant issue inhibiting commercialisation of the air drone industry is that the use of Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) are generally restricted to use within visual line of sight (VLOS) of the operator and traditional methods of restricting movement to within a set area relies on GNSS / GPS which can be inaccurate and is highly susceptible to spoofing, hacking and jamming.

[003] To facilitate use of commercial drones on a large scale, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) capabilities are required and, while there are regulations are in place to permit this, the infrastructure required to satisfy the regulator (i.e. the Civil Aviation Authority, CAA), to allow wide-scale 'business as usual' (commercial) BVLOS flights, is not available. Summary

[004] The present disclosure seeks to address issues with safely operating drones in an airspace. At the least, the disclosure herein provides a viable option for implementing infrastructure for safe drone operation.

[005] According to a first aspect, a vehicle operating safety system is outlined according to claim 1. The system may be applicable to air, land and sea vehicles, e.g. unmanned, uncrewed and / or autonomous craft or vehicles with such functions in combination with manual operation. The vehicular terms used herein are generally interchangeable. The system can comprise: a plurality of beacons, distributed relative to an area to be controlled; at least one unmanned (or uncrewed) aircraft (UA) for operation within the area, comprising a flight controller and transceiver for detection of the plurality of beacons and configured for determining a location of the UA within or relative to the area; a safety controller configured to monitor the flight controller for any deviation outside a designated corridor or straying into an exclusion zone relative to the area and, in the event of breaching a boundary, takes control of the UA. In this way, a safety controller (also termed herein a "safety assurance system"), being a highly certified hardware / software solution carried by the UA, is able to override the flight controller in the event of the UA straying from safe operating parameters.

[006] In embodiments, the beacon is an active ground-based radar beacon, e.g. being a transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed navigational mark which, when triggered by a radar device, automatically returns a distinctive signal which can appear on the display of the triggering radar (i.e. the transceiver at the UA), providing range, bearing and identification information.

[007] In embodiments, taking control of the UA by the safety controller comprises execution of at least one safe action. A safe action may entail forced automated / controlled landing, such as landing back within the designated corridor, i.e. away from critical infrastructure. Generally, example options for a safe action include: landing immediately; traversing a determined distance away from any danger area such as tracks or public right of way and landing; going to a closest safe landing place (preidentified and mapped) for landing. A designated corridor or exclusion zone is a predetermined zone / subsection of the area that may be defined in three-dimensional space such as having a width, length and height. The predetermined zone of operation or exclusion may be the entire area being monitored. Such zones are unlikely to be straight paths but may provide navigation relative to an asymmetrical structure. A designated corridor or exclusion zone relative to ground based critical infrastructure like railway tracks or power lines may include a boundary determined by minimum safe height above such structure. The invention has particular application for operation in a-typical airspace. Emergency services may be advised of the corridors, which are ten metres (33 ft) and below, so that they can include them in exclusion zones in operations maps.

[008] Particularly since current GPS / GNSS is not accurate or secure enough for the purpose described herein, the present solution utilises local radar beacons in an airspace to fix the UA's location. The system works in tandem with a safety assurance system, the safety controller, to control the drone if it goes out of an authorised zone (or into an excluded zone), established according to the beacons. In this way, a drone can be operated safely in an A-typical airspace in autonomous BVLOS flight, which otherwise would not be possible for commercial purposes. The system provides a "digital tethering" concept in response to currently identified shortcomings in infrastructure, to safely operate drones on a commercial scale, e.g. for delivery of goods across a city or other terrain. Drones in the system may routinely operate autonomous (monitored) BVLOS flights within what was a previously restricted airspace. In a particular form, the vehicle is digitally tethered to its safe route and if the tether "breaks" then action is taken to mitigate potential damage caused by the vehicle. For example, in one form the plurality of beacons are arranged serially in a path that defines the designated corridor. The drone is therefore "digitally tethered" to the path created by the beacons.

[009] The disclosure herein brings together a number of available technologies to ensure that UAs flying in an airspace remain within tightly defined corridors and ensure that any intervention, issue or technical failure does not result in the aircraft leaving the designated corridor, i.e. in a way that it could otherwise damage public or private property or cause injury to the public, with priority given to avoiding damaging critical national infrastructure as the public should not be in these areas.

[0010] There are a number of benefits to the system of the present disclosure, i.e. implementing a digital tethering solution. For example, to date, any system available to restrict the flight of UAs has utilised the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), more commonly known as the global positioning system (GPS). This technology, while useful for all types of vehicle navigation is fraught with issues including accuracy, resolution inconsistencies and vulnerability to spoofing, jamming and interference when used close to electro-magnetic sources. Since the present system does not rely on GNSS for navigation, instead using ground-based radar beacons in conjunction with a radar mounted on the vehicle, this combination enables accurate positioning without the need for GNSS. Furthermore, the safety controller may be air-gapped and mounted with the UA such that it is not susceptible to external tampering and will be shielded against external interference.

[0011] Furthermore, UAs are often not designed to rigorous standards so their behaviour can be unpredictable, e.g. when faced with external factors such as weather, interference, internal failures such as motor failure and software issues. The inventive concept herein employs a safety assurance system (SAS, aka safety controller), i.e. a highly certified hardware and software solution designed to monitor the UA flight control system for any deviation outside the designated corridor, according to the path set out by the radar and beacon interaction. Should a breach be detected, the system is configured such that the SAS takes control of the UA, overriding the regular flight control system and deviating from its programmed route, to direct the UA to take a set number of 'safe' actions which will mitigate undesirable incidents with an extremely high degree of confidence.

[0012] While the technologies mentioned herein exist in isolation, they have not been combined to produce a solution for the air drone industry.

[0013] In a second aspect a method is outlined herein, according to claim 7. Particularly, a method of operating an uncrewed craft may comprise the steps of: determining a safe route through an area to be monitored; arranging a plurality of beacons about the area to be monitored, e.g. in a path therethrough; determining a location of the craft within or relative to the area by detection of the plurality of beacons; monitoring the craft location for deviation from the safe route; and, in the event of deviation, overriding a flight controller of the craft to control piloting thereof.

[0014] In this way, a craft is tethered to a safe path or designated corridor and securely monitored for deviation from this safe path. In the event of deviation piloting of the craft is taken over, e.g. to land it safely.

[0015] A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions may be supplied, which when executed by one or more processors, implements the method.

[0016] Accordingly, the invention is directed to a standardized approach for safely guiding commercial drone traffic which can be potentially be implemented as wide-scale infrastructure. Brief Description of Drawings

[0017] Illustrative embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 illustrates an overview of the drone guidance system in a typical use situation. Detailed Description

[0018] The following description presents exemplary embodiments and, together with the drawings, serves to explain principles of the invention. However, the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the precise details of the embodiments or exact adherence with all system features and / or method steps, since variations will be apparent to a skilled person and are deemed also to be covered by the description. Terms for components used herein should be given a broad interpretation that also encompasses equivalent functions and features.

[0019] In some cases, several alternative terms (synonyms) for structural, system features have been provided but such terms are not intended to be exhaustive. For the avoidance of doubt, any terms separated by the "I" symbol generally refer to alternative "or" expressions where the terms can be used interchangeably. Descriptive terms should also be given the broadest possible interpretation; e.g. the term "comprising" as used in this specification means "consisting at least in part of" such that interpreting each statement in this specification that includes the term "comprising", features other than that or those prefaced by the term may also be present. Related terms such as "comprise" and "comprises" are to be interpreted in the same manner. Any directional terms such as "vertical", "horizontal", "up", "down", "sideways", "upper" and "lower" are used for convenience of explanation usually with reference to the form shown in illustrations and are not intended to be ultimately limiting if an equivalent function can be achieved with an alternative dimension and / or direction. All directional terms are relative to each other.

[0020] The description herein refers to embodiments with particular combinations of steps or features, however, it is envisaged that further combinations and crosscombinations of compatible steps or features between embodiments will be possible. Indeed, isolated features may function independently as an invention from other features and not necessarily require implementation as a complete combination.

[0021] It will be understood that the illustrated embodiments show uses only for the purposes of explanation. In practice, the invention may be applied to many different configurations, where the embodiment is straightforward for those skilled in the art to implement.

[0022] Figure 1 shows an overview of the vehicle operation system summarised above.

[0023] The illustrated scenario involves establishing at least one designated corridor 11, 12 proximate to an area of critical infrastructure, in this case railway tracks 13. A vehicle (e.g. drones 14 and 15) is configured to fly within a corridor, which is defined by a series of beacons 16, 17. The boundaries of the corridors 11, 12, relating to the beacons, are predetermined when setting up the system at a particular location near A-typical airspace.

[0024] In normal operation drone 14, via its flight controller, is able to maintain accurate navigation within the corridor 11 using radar reflections from the line of beacons 16. No GPS navigation is required. Drone 14 can move along and pass by the effective no-fly zone of tracks 12, where it may continue a journey according to its autonomous flying programming.

[0025] If a flight error, weather interference, etc. occurs, then flight corridor 12 may breached by a drone 15, as indicated by darkened patch 18. Such a breach 18 may be discovered by a failure to detect a beacon and / or when the safety controller monitoring flight otherwise determines a boundary of the corridor 12 has been crossed. The secure safety controller at the vehicle thereby activates a safety protocol such as immediate forced landing, preferably outside exclusion zone outside / between corridor Hand 12.

[0026] The system of laying out beacons in a path may only be required near critical infrastructure (e.g. A-typical airspace) and not necessarily "normal" flying in other areas. The system may hand over between autonomous flight and beacon-assisted flight in these areas where additional safety is required. In alternative forms, a path of beacons may be laid out along an entire route, not limited to a-typical airspace.

[0027] By way of summary, the disclosure herein outlines a system and method for operating uncrewed systems / craft, such as aerial drones. A plurality of radar beacons are arranged about an area to be monitored, such as an area of critical national infrastructure, and a safe route through the area is determined. The safe route may correspond to an arrangement of the beacons in a predetermined path through the area. Location is monitored by use of the plurality of beacons and, if the drone deviates from the safe route (such as due to weather / interference, motor failure and / or software issues) then its flight controller is overridden. In this way, it is possible to safely land the vehicle and / or otherwise avoid wider damage to public or private property.

Claims

1. A system for operating uncrewed craft, comprising:a plurality of beacons, distributed about an area to be monitored;at least one uncrewed craft for operation within the area, comprising a flight controller configured for detection of the plurality of beacons and configured for determining a location of the uncrewed craft within or relative to the area;a safety controller configured to monitor the flight controller for any deviation from a boundary of a designated corridor or exclusion zone relative to the area and, in the event of breaching a boundary, takes control of the flight controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the beacon is a ground-based radar beacon configured to automatically return a signal to the flight controller, providing at least one of range, bearing and identification information.

3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein taking control of the flight controller by the safety controller comprises execution of at least one safe action.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one safe action comprises controlled landing, either within the designated corridor or outside the exclusion zone.

5. The system of any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of beacons are arranged serially in a path through the area to be monitored, thereby defining the designated corridor.

6. The system of any preceding claim, wherein the uncrewed craft is an aerial vehicle.

7. A method of operating an uncrewed craft, comprising the steps of:a) determining a safe route through an area to be monitored;b) arranging a plurality of beacons about the area to be monitored;c) determining a location of the craft within or relative to the area by detection of the plurality of beacons;d) monitoring the craft location for deviation from the safe route; and in the event of deviatione) overriding a flight controller of the craft to control piloting thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of beacons are ground-based radar beacons, for detection by the flight controller of the drone.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the plurality of beacons are arranged serially in a path through the area to be monitored, corresponding to the safe route.

10. The method of any preceding claim 7 to 9, wherein overriding control further comprises:f) landing the craft; and / org) traversing a determined distance away from a predetermined danger area within the zone; and / orh) piloting to a closest predetermined safe landing location.

11. The method of any preceding claim 7 to 10, wherein the craft is an aerial vehicle.

12. The method of any preceding claim 7 to 11, wherein the area to be monitored isclassed as A-typical airspace.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, implement the method of any one of claims 7 to 12.

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