Centralized Unmanned Vehicle Control With Exclusive Mission Planning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing unmanned vehicle control systems face challenges in securely and efficiently managing large fleets, particularly in precise navigation to specific locations and maintaining security, due to complexities in autonomous control, reliance on expensive hardware, and vulnerabilities in infrastructure and guide markers.
Innovation Solution
A centralized control system that allows third-party control of unmanned vehicles through a first node that establishes exclusive control, generates mission plans, and switches between automatic and user-based control modes, ensuring secure operation and navigation while restricting unauthorized access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual control of each UV is implemented, then control precision is improved, but labor costs and operational complexity increase exponentially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments control authority between two distinct nodes: a first node that establishes exclusive control and generates mission plans, and a second node that can request access for specific tasks. This segmentation allows automated precision control while reducing operational complexity by eliminating the need for manual control of every UV.
Solution Approach 2:
The first node acts as an intermediary between the operator and the UV fleet. It receives high-level mission parameters from operators and automatically generates detailed control instructions, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining control precision through automated navigation algorithms.
2Productivity
If on-board computations are utilized for automated navigation, then productivity is improved, but hardware costs and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts complex computation requirements from the UVs and relocates them to the first node. The UVs only need to execute navigation instructions received from the first node, significantly reducing their onboard hardware requirements while maintaining automated navigation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The first node serves as a computational intermediary that performs complex navigation calculations and generates flight paths. This allows UVs to achieve automated navigation without requiring expensive onboard computational hardware, as the first node handles the heavy processing burden.
3Reliability
If existing automated detection systems are used for obstacle avoidance, then safety is improved, but detection precision decreases for small or difficult-to-detect obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The first node performs multiple functions including mission planning, navigation instruction generation, and obstacle detection analysis. By consolidating these functions at the first node, the system can coordinate multiple UVs to collectively detect and avoid obstacles, improving both safety and detection precision for small or difficult-to-detect obstacles.
Data Source
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AI summary
An apparatus and method for centralized control of a vehicle. The apparatus includes: a processing circuitry; and a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, configure the apparatus to: establish control of at least one vehicle, wherein establishing the control further comprises determining a set of instructions for controlling each vehicle; generate a mission plan for a first vehicle of the at least one vehicle based on a request from a node when the request is valid, wherein the request indicates at least a first location and a second location; send, to the first vehicle, control instructions for navigating to the first location based on the mission plan; and send, to the first vehicle, control instructions for navigating from the first location to the second location based on the mission plan, when the vehicle is at the first location.