Drone Flight Planning Using Structure Footprints and Obstacle Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobile applications for unmanned aircraft have limited capabilities in generating and executing flight plans based on marked structures, failing to accurately detect and avoid obstacles, and require significant user involvement for image capturing of structures and their roofs.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a hardware processor coupled with an aerial imagery database to generate and execute flight plans with minimal user involvement, automatically detecting obstacles and determining flight paths based on structure footprints, employing z-probing for height calculation and image capture modules for precise image generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If automated flight plan generation is implemented, then user involvement is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing aerial imagery to identify structure footprints and pre-calculating flight paths before the actual flight mission. This automation reduces user involvement during flight execution while the complexity is managed through advance preparation and systematic processing of spatial data.
2Reliability
If obstacle detection and avoidance is added to flight planning, then flight safety is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary obstacle detection by analyzing aerial imagery to identify obstacles within the area of interest before flight execution. Flight paths are pre-calculated to avoid identified obstacles, enabling safe flight without real-time processing delays during the actual mission.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital representation (copy) of the physical environment by processing aerial imagery to generate a map of structures and obstacles. This digital model is then used for flight path planning and obstacle avoidance, eliminating the need for complex real-time sensing and processing during flight.
3Measurement precision
If structure footprint-based flight planning is implemented, then image capturing accuracy is improved, but computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses aerial imagery to create accurate 2D footprint representations of structures, which serve as simplified models for flight path calculation. These footprint copies capture essential geometric information needed for precise image capturing without requiring full 3D modeling, thus reducing computational energy requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for flight planning for an unmanned aircraft. The system generates an aerial imagery map of a capture area and determines a footprint of a structure present in the capture area by marking the structure. The system determines a difference between a takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and a predetermined elevation above a center of the structure and calibrates the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure. The system determines, based on the calibration, a flight path elevation of the unmanned aircraft to capture images of the structure. The system generates a flight plan based on criteria for capturing the images of the structure and executes the flight plan.