UAV Temporary Flight Planning Without ATC Using Master-Slave Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in areas without Air Traffic Control (ATC) service increases the risk of collisions, as existing systems may be offline or unavailable, necessitating a method for temporary flight-plan generation among UAVs to ensure safe navigation.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for UAVs to determine if an ATC station is emitting a flight-plan, calculate scores based on UAV properties and received scores from others, and distribute tasks among master and slave UAVs to generate a temporary flight-plan, allowing autonomous navigation without relying on online ATC.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If UAVs operate in regions without ATC service, then autonomy and flexibility are improved, but collision risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary temporary flight-plan generation system that operates between UAVs when ATC is unavailable. This mediator system coordinates flight paths and schedules among multiple UAVs, reducing collision risk while maintaining operational autonomy in regions without ATC service.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-generating temporary flight-plans before conflicts occur. UAVs exchange flight-intentions and receive coordinated flight-plans in advance, allowing them to navigate autonomously while preventing potential collisions through pre-planned conflict resolution.
2Device complexity
If a single UAV generates temporary flight-plan alone, then system complexity is reduced, but task completion time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the flight-plan generation task among multiple UAVs based on their computational capabilities and current flight states. Instead of one UAV doing all calculations, the workload is divided into sub-tasks that different UAVs can process simultaneously, reducing overall completion time without requiring a single complex centralized system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the computational resources of multiple UAVs to collectively generate the temporary flight-plan. By combining processing power and flight data from multiple sources, the system achieves faster plan generation than a single UAV could accomplish alone, while maintaining distributed system simplicity.
3Device complexity
If one UAV performs all flight-plan generation tasks, then coordination overhead is minimized, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the computationally intensive flight-plan generation tasks across multiple UAVs with sufficient power reserves. Instead of one UAV consuming all the energy for calculations, the workload and corresponding power consumption are distributed, extending overall system operational time while maintaining coordination efficiency through standardized communication protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV, for generating a temporary flight-plan for a region is provided. The method includes determining whether any air traffic control station is emitting a flight-plan for the region. If it is determined that no air traffic control station is emitting a flight-plan for the region, the method further includes determining a score for the UAV based on properties of the UAV and receiving scores from other UAVs within the region. Additionally, the method includes determining whether the UAV is a master UAV or a slave UAV for generating the temporary flight-plan based on the calculated score for the UAV and the received scores from the other UAVs. If it is determined that the UAV is a master UAV, the method includes performing a first task in generating the temporary flight-plan.