Datacenter UAV Navigation Using Visual Tags After Connectivity Loss
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Monitoring and reporting the operating state of a datacenter in real-time is challenging due to its complex and dynamic nature, especially in environments where GPS signals are weak or absent, and conventional recovery operations for UAVs are inefficient when connectivity is lost.
Innovation Solution
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) executes an autonomous navigation process using visual tags positioned within the datacenter, allowing it to collect data without GPS signals or a constant connection to a server, and switches to a connectivity-enabled navigation process once connectivity is restored, adjusting the data collection path as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a connectivity-enabled navigation process is used for data collection, then real-time monitoring and reporting capability is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to connectivity losses and cannot operate in GPS-denied environments
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation system dynamically switches between two operational modes: connectivity-enabled navigation when server communication is available, and autonomous navigation when connectivity is lost. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain operational reliability across varying connectivity conditions while maximizing real-time monitoring capabilities when possible.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes its operational parameters based on connectivity status. When connected, it operates in real-time monitoring mode with server coordination; when disconnected, it transitions to autonomous mode using pre-planned paths and onboard navigation, effectively changing the operational parameters to match environmental conditions.
2Measurement precision
If GPS-based navigation is used for UAV navigation, then navigation accuracy is improved, but the system becomes inoperative in datacenter environments where GPS signals are weak or absent
Solution Approach 1:
Visual tags serve as intermediary reference points within the datacenter environment. These tags are positioned at known locations and provide the UAV with location reference information similar to GPS, enabling accurate navigation and positioning in GPS-denied indoor environments through computer vision-based tag recognition and localization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces GPS satellite-based electromagnetic positioning with an onboard computer vision system that detects and processes visual tags. This substitution enables the UAV to achieve navigation accuracy comparable to GPS using visual recognition and image processing technologies instead of satellite signals.
3Reliability
If conventional recovery operations are used when connectivity is lost, then the UAV returns to a safe state, but data collection efficiency is reduced due to inefficient recovery paths
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-planning navigation paths and identifying visual tags along optimal data collection routes before connectivity is lost. When disconnected, the UAV can continue following these pre-planned paths using onboard autonomous navigation, avoiding the need to return to origin points or docking stations and thereby maintaining data collection efficiency while ensuring safe operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient and resource-effective data collection in datacenters by allowing UAVs to navigate and collect data without GPS, recover from connectivity losses, and reconcile data collection paths, improving datacenter monitoring and reducing resource intensity.
Implementation Method 1
The UAVs are adapted to use said tags as reference positions in the case that GPS signals are weak or absent
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage medium, for autonomous aerial imaging and environmental sensing of a datacenter (100, 104a, 104b). In one aspect a method includes executing, within a datacenter and by an unmanned aerial vehicle (102), UAV, in data communication with a server (112), a connectivity-enabled navigation process to collect data (108) from the datacenter; determining, during execution of the connectivity-enabled navigation process and by the UAV, that connection to the server (112) is lost so that the connectivity-enabled navigation process cannot be continued; and in response to determining that connection to the server is lost, executing, by the UAV, an autonomous navigation process until the connection to the server is recovered, wherein the autonomous navigation process navigates the datacenter using visual tags (114) positioned in the datacenter.