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Navigating uavs in formation

Navigating uavs in formation description/claims

This application is a continuation application of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/041,919, filed on Jan. 24, 2005.

1. Field of the Invention

The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, systems, and products for navigating UAVs in formation.

2. Description of Related Art

Many forms of UAV are available in prior art, both domestically and internationally. Their payload weight carrying capability, their accommodations (volume, environment), their mission profiles (altitude, range, duration), and their command, control and data acquisition capabilities vary significantly. Routine civil access to these various UAV assets is in an embryonic state.

Conventional UAVs are typically manually controlled by an operator who may view aspects of a UAV's flight using cameras installed on the UAV with images provided through downlink telemetry. Navigating such UAVs from a starting position to one or more waypoints requires an operator to have specific knowledge of the UAV's flight, including such aspects as starting location, the UAV's current location, waypoint locations, and so on. Operators of prior art UAVs usually are required generally to manually control the UAV from a starting position to a waypoint with little aid from automation. There is therefore an ongoing need for improvement in the area of UAV navigations.

Exemplary methods, systems, and products are described for efficient, automated navigation of UAVs, including navigating UAVs in formation. That is, exemplary methods, systems, and products are described for navigating UAVs in formation, including assigning pattern positions to each of a multiplicity of UAVs flying together in a pattern; identifying a waypoint for each UAV in dependence upon the UAV's pattern position; piloting the UAVs in the pattern toward their waypoints in dependence upon a navigation algorithm, where the navigation algorithm includes repeatedly comparing the UAV's intended position and the UAV's actual position and calculating a corrective flight vector when the distance between the UAV's actual and intended positions exceeds an error threshold. The actual position of the UAV may be taken from a GPS receiver on board the UAV.

Assigning pattern positions to each of a multiplicity of UAVs flying together in a pattern may include designating an anchor position for the pattern and assigning pattern positions to the other UAVs relative to the anchor position, and identifying a waypoint for each UAV in dependence upon its pattern position may be carried out by designating a waypoint for the anchor position and calculating each UAV's waypoint in dependence upon the waypoint for the anchor and in dependence upon the UAV's position in the pattern. Each UAV's intended position may be specified by the UAV's position in the pattern, a cross track to the UAV's waypoint, and a flight schedule.

Piloting the UAVs in dependence upon a navigation algorithm may include identifying a cross track to a waypoint for each UAV, the cross track having a cross track direction; piloting the UAV to a starting point on the cross track; calculating an airspeed for flying from the starting point to the waypoint on schedule; calculating a heading in dependence upon wind speed, wind direction, airspeed, and the cross track direction; and flying the UAV on the heading at the airspeed.

Calculating a corrective flight vector may be carried out by selecting a corrective waypoint on a cross track between a UAV's intended position and its waypoint; calculating a corrective airspeed for arriving at the corrective waypoint on schedule; and calculating a corrective heading in dependence upon the calculated airspeed. Selecting a corrective waypoint on a cross track between a UAV's intended position and its waypoint may include selecting a corrective waypoint at a predetermined portion of the distance between a UAV's intended position and its waypoint. Calculating a corrective airspeed for arriving at the corrective waypoint on schedule may be carried out by calculating a groundspeed needed to bring the UAV to the remedial waypoint on schedule, including dividing the distance from the actual position to the corrective waypoint by the difference between the current time and the schedule time for the corrective waypoint.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts of exemplary embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 sets forth a system diagram illustrating relations among components of an exemplary system for navigating a UAV.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary UAV showing relations among components that includes automated computing machinery.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary remote control device showing relations among components that includes automated computing machinery.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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