Aircraft Camera-Assisted Navigation Under GPS Loss and Payload Shift
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Solution Overview
Problem
VTOL aircraft, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), face challenges in maintaining accurate flight control and location determination due to varying payload weights and centers of gravity, and reliance on GPS systems that can become unavailable, leading to navigation issues.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system for VTOL aircraft that includes a group of cameras mounted to the aircraft to capture environmental images, coupled with a processing component to determine the aircraft's location using image data, supplementing GPS information when unavailable, and an adaptive flight control system that adjusts control gains based on payload characteristics through maneuvers and sensor feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If GPS positioning system is used to determine aircraft location, then navigation capability is improved, but system becomes vulnerable to signal unavailability and loss of location tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces visual landmarks in the environment as intermediary reference points. Cameras capture images of these landmarks, and the processing component uses image recognition and feature matching to determine aircraft position relative to these landmarks, serving as a mediator when GPS is unavailable
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the electronic GPS signal-based positioning system with a visual-mechanical positioning approach using cameras to capture environmental images and processing components to analyze landmark features, substituting electromagnetic signal dependency with visual feature recognition
2Measurement precision
If fixed control gains are used in flight control system, then system simplicity is maintained, but flight control accuracy deteriorates under varying payload conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic control gains that automatically adjust based on detected payload characteristics. The processing component analyzes payload weight and center of gravity from sensor data, and the control system dynamically modifies control parameters to optimize flight performance under varying payload conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs feedback mechanisms where sensors continuously monitor aircraft attitude, position, and payload characteristics, and the processing component uses this feedback to adjust control gains in real-time, creating a closed-loop control system that adapts to changing flight conditions
3Measurement precision
If multiple cameras are mounted to capture environmental images, then location determination accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the environment into multiple fields of view using separate cameras positioned at different locations and orientations. Each camera captures specific portions of the environment, and the processing component integrates data from these segmented views to construct a comprehensive positional determination
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs the camera system to serve multiple functions: capturing environmental landmarks for position determination, monitoring payload characteristics, and providing visual data for navigation. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized systems
Data Source
AI summary
One embodiment is a navigation system for an aircraft including a positioning system to generate information related to a position of the aircraft, a group of cameras mounted to a body of the aircraft, each camera of the group of cameras to simultaneously capture images of a portion of an environment that surrounds the aircraft, and a processing component coupled to the positioning system and the group of cameras, the processing component to determine a current position of the aircraft based on the information related to the position of the aircraft and the images.