Drone Trajectory Estimator for Authorized Airspace Boundary Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Off-board drone pilots face challenges in maintaining drones within authorized airspace limits, as existing methods lack effective tools to predict and visualize the drone's trajectory relative to airspace boundaries in real-time.
Innovation Solution
A method employing a trajectory estimator that determines and displays the drone's speed, location, and navigation data to visualize its position relative to airspace limits, using symbols to indicate the current position, limits, and predicted trajectory, allowing pilots to adjust the drone's path to avoid airspace violations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a drone is piloted remotely without on-board pilot, then operational flexibility and safety are improved, but the pilot's ability to maintain the drone within authorized airspace deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides continuous visual feedback to the remote pilot by displaying the drone's current position, authorized airspace boundaries, and predicted trajectory. This feedback loop enables the pilot to make informed control decisions to keep the drone within authorized airspace, compensating for the lack of direct visual observation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system calculates and displays the predicted trajectory in advance, allowing the pilot to anticipate future position violations before they occur. This preliminary action enables proactive control adjustments to prevent airspace boundary crossings.
2Reliability
If real-time trajectory prediction and visualization are implemented, then airspace compliance is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the trajectory estimation function from the drone itself, placing it on the ground station. This segmentation allows the drone to remain simple while the complex computation is performed remotely, reducing on-board weight and power requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The trajectory estimator acts as an intermediary between the drone's raw sensor data and the pilot's decision-making process. It processes position, velocity, and navigation data to generate the predicted trajectory display, simplifying the information the pilot must interpret.
3Reliability
If continuous monitoring and prediction of drone position are performed, then airspace violation prevention is improved, but data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The computationally intensive trajectory prediction and monitoring functions are extracted from the drone and performed on the ground station. This extraction reduces the drone's energy consumption while maintaining continuous monitoring capability through the use of existing ground-based computational resources.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for assisting in maintaining a drone within authorized airspace. This method comprises displaying several symbols on a display (21) of a trajectory estimator including: i) a display of an aircraft symbol (35) illustrating a current position of the drone with respect to said authorized airspace (100), ii) a display of a limitation symbol (30) illustrating a boundary of said airspace in a position with respect to the aircraft symbol (35) representative of a position of the boundary with respect to the current position of the drone, and iii) the determination of a geometry and the display of a trajectory symbol (50) illustrating a predicted trajectory of the drone without change in the values of a speed data and a navigation data, said geometry of the trajectory symbol (50) being a function at least of the value of the speed data (DVIT) and the value of the navigation data (DNAV).