Infrastructure-Based UAV Traffic Management for Beyond-Line-of-Sight Flight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face challenges with size, weight, and power constraints due to onboard cameras and sensors for navigation, and communication interruptions occur when out of line-of-sight from remote pilots or navigation systems.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing an intelligent sensor node network, such as a street light network, to collect and transmit navigation and parameter data for UAVs, generating flight path data and transmitting it to the UAVs, enabling optimal route determination and reducing onboard processing and data transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If onboard cameras and sensors are used for navigation, then navigation capability is improved, but size, weight and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces infrastructure-based sensors (smart street lights, traffic signals) as intermediaries to provide navigation and detection capabilities. These infrastructure elements act as external sensors that replace or supplement onboard UAV sensors, allowing the UAV to receive navigation data without carrying heavy sensing equipment. The infrastructure nodes detect UAV position and transmit guidance information back to the UAV.
Solution Approach 2:
The infrastructure network (smart street lights, traffic signals) provides navigation and detection services autonomously without requiring UAV-mounted equipment. The infrastructure elements self-monitor the environment and automatically provide navigation data to UAVs, enabling the UAV to benefit from external sensing capabilities without the weight penalty of onboard sensors.
2Reliability
If onboard cameras and sensors are used for navigation, then navigation capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The infrastructure network serves as an intermediary that handles complex sensing and processing tasks externally. Instead of the UAV carrying and processing data from multiple onboard sensors, the infrastructure nodes perform detection and navigation computation, simplifying the UAV system while maintaining or enhancing navigation capability.
3Reliability
If line-of-sight communication is used between remote pilot and UAV, then communication reliability is improved, but operational range is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses infrastructure nodes (smart street lights, traffic signals) as communication intermediaries. These nodes receive data from UAVs and relay it to remote pilots, and conversely transmit pilot commands to UAVs. This infrastructure-based communication relay enables beyond line-of-sight operation while maintaining communication reliability through multiple hop transmissions.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques to facilitate intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle traffic management via an infrastructure network are presented. In an example, a traffic management system can include a data collection component, a flight path component, and a communication component. The data collection component receives navigation data and parameter data associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle. The navigation data is associated with a starting point and destination for the unmanned aerial vehicle. The parameter data is indicative of information associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight path component generates flight path data for the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the navigation data, the parameter data and infrastructure network data received from an intelligent sensor node network. The communication component transmits the flight path data to the unmanned aerial vehicle.