Environmental Drone Tracking for Moving Weather and Lighting Effects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Outdoor media productions face challenges in dynamically controlling environmental conditions such as light, rain, and wind, especially when the production location is moving, as existing systems lack the ability to track and follow individuals or objects to create and maintain specific effects.
Innovation Solution
An intelligent drone equipped with a camera, environmental condition generator, and tracking and guidance module to dynamically adjust its position and the environmental conditions it generates to follow and affect a target entity, using light filters, artificial light sources, rain generators, and wind simulators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a drone is used to generate environmental conditions at a fixed location, then the environmental control capability is provided, but the system cannot follow moving targets or change location during production
Solution Approach 1:
The drone is designed to perform multiple functions: it generates environmental conditions (rain, wind, fog) and simultaneously tracks moving targets using its camera and guidance system. This multi-functionality allows a single device to replace both fixed environmental generators and tracking systems, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone transitions from a static fixed-location system to a dynamic mobile platform that can change position and follow moving targets in real-time. The guidance system continuously adjusts the drone's position based on target movement, providing adaptability while managing complexity through automated control.
2Productivity
If manual positioning and environmental control is used, then device complexity is reduced, but productivity and dynamic control capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The drone's guidance system autonomously tracks the target and adjusts positioning without requiring constant manual intervention. The camera system automatically detects the target, and the control system self-adjusts the drone's position and environmental condition generation, improving productivity while the automated nature manages the complexity burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera and guidance system provide continuous feedback about target position and environmental condition effectiveness. This closed-loop feedback enables real-time adjustments to maintain optimal positioning and environmental effects, dramatically improving dynamic control efficiency and productivity.
3Ease of operation
If environmental conditions are generated at a fixed location, then system simplicity is maintained, but the ability to provide conditions at moving locations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static fixed-location operation to dynamic mobile operation. The drone can freely move to any location while maintaining environmental condition generation capabilities, providing operational flexibility to follow actors and objects throughout the production area.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone combines environmental condition generation with mobile tracking capabilities in a single platform, enabling it to operate at any location while maintaining simplicity through integrated design rather than multiple separate systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus for an intelligent environmental drone are described. The aeronautical drone includes an environmental condition generator. A camera system is configured to capture an image of an environment near the aeronautical drone and an image and sensor processing module is configured to identify a target entity by processing the image captured by the camera system. A tracking and guidance module is configured to track the target entity and determine a location for the aeronautical drone to create a generated condition area of a specified size and location and to position the generated condition area around the target entity.