Strobe-Light Navigation Using Retroreflectors for UAM Landing Pads
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Solution Overview
Problem
Urban air mobility vehicles require cost-effective, lightweight, and low-maintenance navigation systems for identifying and navigating to specific landing pads in vertiports, as traditional radar-based solutions are expensive, complex, and power-intensive.
Innovation Solution
A strobe-light-based navigation system using vehicle-mounted strobe lights and camera-equipped landing pads with optical retroreflectors, which utilize geometric patterns and color-coded retroreflectors to identify and navigate to specific landing pads, calculating navigation data through image processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If radar-based navigation systems are used for UAM vehicles, then navigation accuracy and safety are improved, but vehicle weight, cost, and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces radar-based navigation systems with an optical navigation system using strobe lights and cameras. The vehicle-mounted strobe lights illuminate retroreflectors on the landing pad, and cameras capture the reflected light patterns to determine position, attitude, and velocity. This substitution eliminates the need for heavy radar equipment while maintaining navigation functionality through optical means.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses passive retroreflectors that copy and reflect the strobe light pattern back to the vehicle's cameras. Instead of active radar transmission and reception, the system creates an optical copy of the light pattern through reflection, enabling navigation information to be obtained without heavy active sensing equipment.
2Measurement precision
If radar-based navigation systems are used for UAM vehicles, then navigation accuracy is improved, but power consumption and maintenance requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic strobe light pulses instead of continuous radar transmission. The strobe lights flash at specific intervals to illuminate the retroreflectors, and cameras capture images at synchronized intervals. This periodic action reduces power consumption compared to continuous radar operation while maintaining sufficient data for navigation precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The retroreflectors on the landing pad passively return the strobe light without requiring external power or active components. The system leverages the natural reflective properties of the retroreflector array, eliminating the need for powered transmitters or receivers on the ground, thereby reducing overall system power requirements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If radar-based navigation systems are used for UAM vehicles, then navigation capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dual-purpose strobe lights that serve both as navigation illumination sources and as collision avoidance lights. By integrating these functions into a single system, the patent reduces overall device complexity and component count while maintaining full navigation capability and safety functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The retroreflector array acts as an intermediary that converts the strobe light illumination into a measurable reflected pattern. This intermediary element enables the navigation system to obtain position, attitude, and velocity information through simple optical reflection and image capture, avoiding the need for complex radar signal processing and antenna systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Provides precise, inexpensive, and low-maintenance navigation for urban air mobility vehicles, enabling safe and efficient landing by using strobe light pulses to determine line-of-sight, distance, and vehicle attitude without the need for costly radar equipment.
Implementation Method 1
a retro-reflector array; wherein the reflected strobe light pulses comprise reflections of the light pulse reflected by the retro-reflector array
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
AI summary
Systems and methods for strobe-light-based navigation are provided. In one embodiment, a reflected strobe light navigation system for a vehicle comprises: a vehicle navigation system; a reflection processing system coupled to the vehicle navigation system, wherein the reflection processing system is configured to output a navigation solution to the vehicle navigation system; a strobe light generator system configured to transmit a light pulse from the vehicle; and a reflected strobe image capturing system coupled to the reflection processing system, wherein the reflected strobe image capturing system is configured to capture images of reflected strobe light pulses received from a retro-reflector array, wherein the reflected strobe light pulses comprise reflections of the light pulse reflected by the retro-reflector array; wherein the reflection processing system evaluates one or more image frames each comprising a pattern of reflected light pulse images produced from the reflected strobe light pulses to calculate the navigation solution.