Yaw-Rotatable Camera Pod for UAV Target Tracking in Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face challenges in maintaining a positive identification (PID) of a target while turning and approaching, as existing methods require significant time and expose the aircraft to detection risks, and may result in losing sight of the target during maneuvers.
Innovation Solution
The UAV system incorporates a camera pod that can vary its orientation in yaw, allowing the camera to maintain a PID of the target while the aircraft turns its velocity vector towards the target, using control surfaces to adjust the camera's position and maintain the target within the field of view, even during sharp turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the UAV performs a traditional outbound-and-inbound maneuver to turn towards the target, then the aircraft can reduce altitude to a preferable glide path and turn its velocity vector toward the target, but the aircraft loses sight of the target during the maneuver and must reestablish PID
Solution Approach 1:
The camera pod is made dynamically movable relative to the aircraft body, allowing it to rotate and track the target independently during maneuvers. This dynamic adjustment enables the camera to maintain PID on the target while the aircraft performs sharp turns and altitude changes, resolving the contradiction between turning speed and maintaining target identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera pod acts as an intermediary between the aircraft's motion and the target observation. By decoupling the camera's orientation from the aircraft's velocity vector through independent rotation capability, the system maintains continuous target sight while the aircraft executes aggressive maneuvers to reduce exposure time.
2Loss of information
If the UAV flies in a loitering pattern around the target to maintain PID, then the side-view camera can maintain continuous view of the target, but the aircraft remains exposed for a longer period and the approach takes more time
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamically adjustable camera pod allows the UAV to transition from slow loitering patterns to faster direct approaches while maintaining PID. The camera can track the target during sharp turns and altitude changes, enabling the aircraft to reduce exposure time by flying more directly to the target rather than circling in a loiter pattern.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines multiple capabilities (camera pod rotation, inertial navigation, GPS guidance, and control surface actuation) into an integrated solution that enables both rapid maneuvering and continuous target tracking, resolving the time loss associated with traditional loitering approaches.
3Shape
If the UAV performs a 90-degree turn outbound and then a 180-degree turn inbound to approach the target, then the aircraft can follow a preferable glide path, but the maneuver places the ground commit-location between the aircraft and target requiring reestablishment of PID
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable camera pod maintains continuous tracking of the target throughout the outbound and inbound maneuvers. As the aircraft executes the 90-degree outbound turn and subsequent 180-degree inbound turn, the camera dynamically adjusts its orientation to keep the target in view, eliminating the need to reestablish PID when the aircraft passes over the ground commit-location.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft including a wing system, a plurality of control surfaces, a camera mounted on a camera pod, and a control system. The camera pod is configured to vary the orientation of the camera field of view only in yaw, relative to the aircraft, between a directly forward-looking orientation and a side-looking orientation. The control system controls the control surfaces such that they induce a significant aircraft yaw causing an identified target to be within the field of view of the camera with the camera in the directly forward-looking orientation.