AR Head-Mounted Display for UAV Line-of-Sight Guidance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations require UAV pilots to maintain line-of-sight with their vehicles at all times, which can be challenging due to factors like tortuous terrain, background color contrast, weather, or obstacles, hindering the ability to keep the UAV within their field of view.
Innovation Solution
A system using an augmented-reality head-mounted display (HMD) that determines the position of the UAV with respect to the pilot's field of view, providing visual and auditory cues to assist in maintaining line-of-sight, including displaying a bounding box or directional arrows when the UAV is out of view, and offering real-time flight data such as airspeed, battery life, and flight path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the UAV flies at a distance to cover large inspection areas, then productivity is improved, but line-of-sight maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system consisting of a display device (such as a head-mounted display or dashboard) that shows real-time visual indicators of the UAV's position relative to the operator's field of view. This intermediary provides continuous feedback about whether the UAV is within line-of-sight, allowing the operator to maintain productivity at extended distances while easily monitoring and maintaining line-of-sight compliance through the displayed indicators.
2Productivity
If the operator focuses on controlling the UAV, then productivity is improved, but awareness of surrounding environment decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides continuous feedback to the operator through visual indicators displayed in real-time, showing the UAV's position relative to the operator's field of view. This feedback mechanism allows the operator to maintain focus on UAV control tasks while the system automatically monitors and communicates environmental context (UAV position status) back to the operator, eliminating the need for constant visual scanning and reducing cognitive load.
3Ease of operation
If visual indicators are added to help maintain line-of-sight, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the line-of-sight indication functionality into existing UAV control systems by utilizing the display capabilities of standard control interfaces (such as smartphone screens, tablets, or head-mounted displays already used for flight control). The system repurposes these existing display devices to show additional positional indicators, eliminating the need for separate dedicated display hardware and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A
AI summary
An augmented-reality head-mounted display is configured to display an indication of a location of an unmanned aerial vehicle with respect to the field-of-view of the head-mounted display, in order to assist a UAV operator to maintain line-of-sight with the UAV.