Drone Virtual Rail Flight Control for Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drone controllers fail to ensure safe flight in crowded areas, leading to collisions with people or objects, and when multiple drones are used in cinematography, they often collide or obstruct each other's camera views.
Innovation Solution
A drone controller that uses predefined virtual rails to guide flight, approximating lag and contour errors, and minimizing a cost function to determine control inputs while respecting drone limitations, ensuring collision avoidance and optimal camera positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing controllers are used to control drone flight, then the drone can fly freely, but the drone cannot avoid collision with people or objects in crowded areas
Solution Approach 1:
The operating region is divided into multiple sub-regions based on start and end positions of agents. Each sub-region is assigned to specific agents, creating segmented flight paths that prevent collisions while maintaining operational freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
A ground control device acts as an intermediary between the drone and the environment. It processes position information, generates sub-region data, and determines safe paths of movement, mediating between flight freedom and collision avoidance requirements.
2Productivity
If multiple drones are flown simultaneously for cinematography, then diverse camera views can be captured, but the drones may collide with each other or obstruct each other's camera views
Solution Approach 1:
The operating region is divided into multiple sub-regions, and each drone is assigned to specific sub-regions. This segmentation ensures that multiple drones can operate simultaneously in different spatial zones, preventing collisions while capturing diverse views of the same subject.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses spatial subdivision of the operating region into sub-regions, adding a dimensional organization to multi-drone operations. This allows drones to coexist in the same three-dimensional space by assigning them to different spatial zones, thereby increasing productivity while maintaining safety.
Data Source
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AI summary
According to the present invention there is provided a drone (1) comprising one or more propellers (2) and one or more actuators (3) for actuating said one or more propellers (2) to generating a thrust force which enables the drone (1) to fly; a controller (4) which is configured such that it can control the flight of the drone (1), wherein the controller (4) comprises a memory (6) having stored therein a plurality of predefined sets of positions which define a virtual rail which can be used to guide the flight of the drone (1) so that the drone can avoid collision with an subject; and wherein the controller further comprises a mathematical model (7) of the drone; wherein the controller (4) is configured to control the flight of the drone by performing at least the following steps, (a) approximating a lag error based on the position of the drone (1) measured by a sensor (5) and the virtual rail, wherein the lag error is the distance between a point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1) and an estimate of said point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1); (b) approximating a contour error based on the position of the drone (1) as measured by a sensor (5) and the virtual rail, wherein the contour error is the distance between a point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1) and the position of the drone (1); (c) defining a cost function which comprises at least said approximation of the lag error and said approximation of the contour error; (d) minimizing the defined cost function, while also respecting at least limitations of the drone which are defined in said mathematical model, to determine a plurality of control inputs over a predefined time period into the future, and (e) applying the first control input only to the one or more actuators (3). There is further provided a corresponding method for controlling the flight of a drone.