Autonomous Drone Sensor Testing During Surveillance Downtime
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous surveillance drones are not typically continuously engaged in surveillance operations and lack the capability to autonomously test and ensure the functionality of monitoring system sensors installed on properties, which can lead to potential security breaches or undetected hazards.
Innovation Solution
A drone equipped with processors, storage devices, and machine learning models is used to navigate a property, detect sensors, determine appropriate test types, administer tests, and evaluate sensor functionality, allowing for autonomous sensor testing and monitoring without human supervision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a drone is used for autonomous surveillance, then property monitoring capability is improved, but the drone cannot continuously perform surveillance and remains inactive on charging stations
Solution Approach 1:
The drone performs sensor testing as a preliminary action during its inactive periods on charging stations. Instead of remaining completely idle, the drone autonomously navigates to sensors and administers tests before returning to charge, ensuring sensor functionality is verified in advance before surveillance operations begin.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone serves itself by autonomously testing sensors without human intervention. The system automatically detects sensors, determines appropriate test types, administers tests, and evaluates results, allowing the drone to maintain surveillance reliability during periods when it cannot perform active surveillance.
2Reliability
If the drone autonomously tests sensors, then sensor functionality reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional sensing and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The drone is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a surveillance device and a sensor testing device. The same navigation system, sensors, and processing capabilities used for surveillance are also employed for sensor testing, eliminating the need for separate dedicated testing equipment and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone implements feedback mechanisms by automatically evaluating sensor test results and using this information to adjust its surveillance operations. The system receives feedback from tested sensors about their functionality status and uses this information to determine whether surveillance operations should proceed, thereby improving reliability without requiring complex manual intervention systems.
3Measurement precision
If the drone navigates to detect sensors and administers tests, then measurement precision of sensor functionality is improved, but the time required for testing and navigation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drone performs sensor testing periodically during its operational cycle, specifically during inactive periods on charging stations. This periodic action allows the drone to accumulate precise sensor functionality data over time without interfering with active surveillance operations, thereby achieving high measurement precision while minimizing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone performs partial testing actions by focusing only on essential sensor functionality checks during navigation and testing phases. Rather than conducting exhaustive tests on all sensor parameters, the system performs targeted tests that provide sufficient precision for surveillance purposes, thereby reducing the time required while maintaining adequate measurement accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a storage device, for using a drone to test monitoring system sensors. In one aspect, the drone perform operations that include navigating from a first location of a property towards a second location of the property, detecting a sensor that is installed at the property, interrupting, by the drone, navigation through the property from the first location of the property towards the second location of the property to initiate a test of the detected sensor and (ii) determining a sensor test type for the detected sensor, administering a sensor test to the detected sensor, wherein the sensor test is based on the determined sensor test type, evaluating results of the administered test, storing data describing the results of the administered test, and continuing navigation through the property towards the second location of the property or towards another location of the property.