Drone Crash Command Authentication for Urgent Collision Avoidance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned aircraft, or drones, often pose a risk of collision due to operator inexperience or lack of control, particularly in confined spaces, where there is insufficient time for a controlled landing to prevent injury or damage.
Innovation Solution
The system equips drones with sensors and processors that detect and authenticate commands to stop flying, allowing authorized users to cause an intentional crash to avoid collisions with higher-priority objects, ensuring only authorized users can initiate a crash by terminating power to the flight engine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a controlled landing procedure is implemented to prevent collision, then safety of people and objects is improved, but response time is insufficient in urgent situations
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-authenticates multiple authorized users and stores their credentials before emergencies occur. When a crash command is issued, the system immediately verifies the command against stored credentials without requiring real-time authentication, enabling instant response while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements an urgent crash function that bypasses the normal controlled landing sequence. When an authenticated authorized user issues a crash command, the system immediately terminates flight operations by cutting power to flight controls, skipping the time-consuming controlled landing procedure to achieve rapid intervention.
2Ease of operation
If any user can issue a stop command, then ease of operation is improved, but unauthorized damage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors crash commands and provides immediate feedback by verifying the command source against stored authorized user credentials. This feedback mechanism ensures that only authenticated users can initiate crashes, preventing unauthorized damage while maintaining the ability for quick response when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an authentication intermediary layer between the crash command and the actual crash execution. The processor acts as a mediator that intercepts crash commands, verifies authorized user credentials, and only permits the crash function if authentication succeeds, thereby protecting against unauthorized damage.
3Reliability
If immediate crash function is implemented, then collision prevention is improved, but drone integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system accepts that drone damage is an inevitable consequence of immediate crash intervention and converts this harm into a benefit by prioritizing human safety. The authorized user crash function deliberately sacrifices drone integrity to prevent greater harm to people or expensive objects, treating the drone as a disposable safety mechanism.
4Strength
If controlled landing is used, then drone integrity is preserved, but safety response is too slow for urgent situations
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic response selection that adapts to the urgency of the situation. For routine operations, controlled landing is used to preserve drone integrity. For urgent situations involving authorized users, the system dynamically switches to immediate crash mode, adjusting the response strategy based on real-time needs.
Data Source
AI summary
An unmanned aircraft includes one or more sensors. The sensors identify a predefined crash command from an environment about the unmanned aircraft. One or more processors, operable with the one or more sensors, then determine whether a source of the predefined crash command is authorized to crash the unmanned aircraft. Where the source of the predefined crash command is authorized to crash the unmanned aircraft, the one or more processors crash the unmanned aircraft. Where the source of the command requesting the unmanned aircraft to stop flying is unauthorized to crash the unmanned aircraft, the one or more processors can land the unmanned aircraft without crashing.