Drone Route Generation Using Validated Field Edge Coordinates

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing autonomous drone systems for agricultural chemical agent application lack safety considerations and efficient route generation, particularly in complex agricultural fields with obstacles and varying terrain.

Innovation Solution

A traveling route generating system that acquires and evaluates measurement-point coordinates to determine appropriateness, integrating overlapping points, checking for altitude abnormalities, and approximating polygon shapes to create a safe and efficient movable area for drone operation, excluding inappropriate points and obstacles.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If measurement-point coordinates are acquired without validation, then coordinate acquisition speed is improved, but safety and reliability deteriorate due to inappropriate coordinates causing unsafe routes

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecoordinate acquisition speedVSAvoidsafety of autonomous operation

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary validation of measurement-point coordinates before route generation by checking if points lie on target area edges and verifying geometric appropriateness. This preliminary action ensures that only valid coordinates are used for route planning, preventing unsafe routes while maintaining efficient processing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary validation process between coordinate acquisition and route generation. The movable area generating section acts as a mediator that filters inappropriate coordinates through geometric checks (edge alignment, polygon validity) before allowing them to influence the final route, thus ensuring safety without sacrificing acquisition speed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Productivity

If all measurement-point coordinates are used for route generation, then route generation completeness is improved, but route safety deteriorates when inappropriate coordinates are included

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveroute generation completenessVSAvoidroute safety

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and removes inappropriate measurement-point coordinates from the dataset before route generation. The validation process identifies coordinates that do not lie on target area edges or create geometric invalidities, and these problematic points are excluded from the movable area calculation, ensuring only safe and valid coordinates influence the route.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies local quality validation by checking each measurement-point coordinate individually for appropriateness based on its specific geometric properties (edge alignment, distance relationships). Rather than uniformly accepting or rejecting all coordinates, the system evaluates each point's local characteristics to determine its suitability for route generation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Reliability

If complex validation checks are performed on measurement-point coordinates, then route safety is improved, but processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveroute safetyVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The validation process is segmented into distinct, modular checks: edge alignment verification, geometric appropriateness validation, and polygon validity assessment. Each segment operates independently and can be executed efficiently, reducing overall processing time while maintaining comprehensive safety validation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Ease of manufacture

If measurement points are not validated for edge alignment, then measurement process simplicity is improved, but movable area accuracy deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemeasurement process simplicityVSAvoidmovable area accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement verification with computational geometry validation. Instead of requiring precise physical measurement procedures, the system uses mathematical checks to verify if coordinates lie on target area edges and form valid polygons, maintaining measurement simplicity while ensuring high accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS12117297B2Traveling route generating system, traveling route generating method, traveling route generating program, coordinate measuring system, and drone

Publication Date: 2024.10.15 NILEWORKS INC

AI summary

There is provided a traveling route generating system for generating a traveling route for a movable device in a target area, the traveling route generating system includes: a target area information acquiring section that acquires sets of measurement-point coordinates on edges of the target area; and a movable area generating section that determines appropriateness of the sets of measurement-point coordinates, in a case where any of the plurality of sets of measurement-point coordinates is determined to be inappropriate by the determination, does not generate a movable area where the movable device can move or does not use a set of measurement-point coordinates determined to be inappropriate for generating the movable area, and in a case where the plurality of sets of measurement-point coordinates are determined to be appropriate by the determination, generates the movable area based on the plurality of sets of measurement-point coordinates.