Drone-Based Charging Station Detection Beyond Vehicle Sensor Range
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for finding charging stations for electric motor vehicles are inefficient, particularly in monitoring areas outside the range of vehicle-mounted sensors, leading to prolonged search times and unnecessary energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
Employing drones equipped with monitoring devices to scan the environment of the vehicle, capturing data beyond the vehicle's sensor range, and analyzing this data to locate suitable charging stations, including assessing accessibility and availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If vehicle-mounted sensors are used to monitor the environment for charging stations, then the monitoring can be performed continuously, but the monitoring range is limited to a certain distance from the vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
A drone is introduced as an intermediary carrier to extend the monitoring capability. The drone flies ahead of the vehicle and captures environmental data (including charging station locations) beyond the vehicle's sensor range, then transmits this data back to the vehicle, effectively mediating the information gap between the vehicle and distant environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system transitions from a ground-based vehicle-mounted sensor to an aerial drone platform, adding a vertical dimension to the monitoring architecture. This dimensional change enables the system to cover areas that are spatially inaccessible to ground-level sensors, significantly expanding the effective monitoring range.
2Loss of time
If the vehicle searches for charging stations using only its own sensors, then the system remains simple, but the search time is prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
The drone performs preliminary environmental scanning and charging station detection before the vehicle arrives at potential locations. By capturing and transmitting data in advance, the drone enables the vehicle to make informed routing decisions without prolonged on-site searching, effectively performing the search function ahead of time.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone acts as an information intermediary that collects environmental data and delivers it to the vehicle's navigation system. This intermediary role accelerates the information flow, reducing the time the vehicle needs to spend searching for charging stations while maintaining system manageability.
3Reliability
If the vehicle consumes energy searching for charging stations, then the vehicle can find charging locations, but the energy consumption increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The drone performs the energy-intensive environmental scanning and charging station detection task before the vehicle needs to consume its own energy for searching. The drone captures images and data in advance, allowing the vehicle to navigate directly to identified charging locations without wasting energy on prolonged search operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the vehicle's own sensor-based mechanical searching process with a drone-based aerial monitoring system. The drone uses its monitoring device to detect charging stations from the air, substituting the vehicle's ground-based sensor search with an aerial optical/electromagnetic detection approach, thereby conserving vehicle energy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for finding a charging station for electric motor vehicles using at least one drone that has a monitoring device, includes the following steps: generating control signals for controlling the drone such that, when controlling the drone based on the generated control signals, the drone monitors an environment of an electric motor vehicle using its monitoring device and outputs monitoring data based on the monitoring; outputting the generated control signals to control the at least one drone based on the generated control signals; after outputting the generated control signals, receiving the monitoring data from the at least one drone; analysing the monitoring data to find a charging station for electric vehicles; and outputting an analysis result of the analysis of the monitoring data. The application also relates to an apparatus, a system for finding a charging station for electric motor vehicles, a computer programme, and a machine-readable storage medium.