Drone Capture System Using Wind-Aware Projectile Modeling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing availability of consumer drones poses challenges in managing privacy, trespassing, and security issues due to their ability to fly at high altitudes and carry payloads, making it difficult to remove or immobilize potentially threatening drones effectively.
Innovation Solution
A targeting and projectile deployment system on a flying device that uses a projectile model to predict the likelihood of hitting a target drone, taking into account environmental conditions and wind patterns, and fires a projectile such as a net or taser to immobilize the target drone, with a configuration that includes a projectile module attached to a gun base and utilizing compressed gas for deployment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If consumer drones are made more accessible and affordable, then drone availability to consumers increases, but security and privacy management problems worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary drone capture system that acts as a mediator between consumer drones and ground control. This system includes a capturing drone equipped with nets or other capture mechanisms that can intercept and secure potentially threatening drones in mid-air, thereby resolving security issues without restricting consumer drone accessibility.
2Speed
If drones are allowed to fly at high altitudes, then drone operational capability increases, but difficulty in removing unwanted drones worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The capturing drone serves as a mobile intermediary that can operate at various altitudes to intercept target drones. By deploying capture mechanisms such as nets from the capturing drone, the system can immobilize target drones mid-air regardless of their altitude, making removal feasible without ground-based interventions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical ground-based drone removal methods with an aerial capture system. Instead of attempting to physically retrieve drones from the ground, the system uses another drone equipped with soft capture mechanisms (nets) that can engage with the target drone in mid-air, utilizing aerodynamic and mechanical principles adapted for aerial operation.
3Quantity of substance
If drones are equipped with payload capacity, then drone functionality increases, but security risks from hostile applications worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The capturing drone acts as an intermediary that can intercept and secure drones carrying potentially harmful payloads. By capturing the drone in mid-air with nets or other non-lethal mechanisms, the system can secure the payload without allowing it to be deployed, thereby neutralizing the threat while preserving the payload for safe recovery.
4Reliability
If a projectile system is deployed to capture drones, then drone immobilization effectiveness increases, but system complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the drone capture system into separate modular components: a capturing drone platform, a projectile module containing the net or capture mechanism, and a control system. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies maintenance and replacement, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining capture effectiveness.
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
The system effectively immobilizes target drones with high accuracy and reliability, addressing the challenges of drone management by ensuring successful projectile deployment and capture, thereby enhancing security and privacy.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing compressed gas for deployment
Data Source
AI summary
A flying vehicle is disclosed with a projectile module or component that contains a projectile for projecting at another flying device. The flying vehicle receives an identification of a target flying device and applies a projectile model which generates a determination that indicates whether a projectile, if fired from the projectile component, the projectile will hit the target flying device. The projectile model taking into account one or more of a wind modeling in an area around the flying vehicle based on an inference of wind due to a tilt of the flying vehicle, a projected path of the target device based on its identification and a drag on the projectile as it deploys from the projectile component. When the determination indicates that the projectile will hit the targeted device according to a threshold value, the flying vehicle fires the projectile at the targeted flying device.