UAV Flight Path Control Using Redundant Position Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining the flight path of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are unreliable when satellite navigation systems are impaired or unavailable, leading to potential control failures.
Innovation Solution
Employing redundant position determination systems, including a satellite navigation system and an image-based or lidar system, to independently verify spatial position data, with plausibility checks ensuring data accuracy before controlling the UAV's movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single satellite navigation system is used for position determination, then the device complexity is low, but the reliability deteriorates when satellite signals are impaired or unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different functional roles to different position determination systems. The first system (satellite navigation) serves as the master system for normal operation, while the second system (image-based or lidar) serves as a specialized backup for specific flight phases where satellite signals are impaired. This localized specialization ensures reliability without requiring both systems to operate at full capacity simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring multiple position determination systems and establishing plausibility check specifications before flight operations begin. The system determines check specifications in advance based on flight phase, ensuring that when satellite signals become impaired, the backup system is already prepared and validated to take over without interruption to flight safety.
2Reliability
If redundant position determination systems are employed with plausibility checks, then the reliability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the position determination system architecture flexible and adaptive. The system dynamically switches between the first and second position determination systems based on flight phase and signal availability. The control unit adjusts which system serves as master and which serves as backup in real-time, optimizing the balance between reliability and complexity for each specific flight condition rather than maintaining fixed redundant architecture.
3Measurement precision
If independent position determination systems are used with plausibility checks, then the measurement precision is verified, but the loss of time increases due to additional checking processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by implementing selective plausibility checks rather than verifying every position data point from both systems. The control unit performs plausibility checks based on pre-determined check specifications that are tailored to each flight phase. Only when discrepancies exceed acceptable thresholds or when switching between systems does full verification occur, reducing unnecessary time loss while maintaining measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for safely determining a flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle, in which an unmanned aerial vehicle is moved along a three-dimensional flight path and in which context the following is repeatedly provided: determination of first position data for a spatial position of the unmanned aerial vehicle along the three-dimensional flight path; determination of second position data for the spatial position of the unmanned aerial vehicle, independently of the determination of the first position data; execution of a plausibility check for the first position data; determination of the first position data as a spatial position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; control of the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle along the three-dimensional flight path in accordance with the spatial position.