Patent Application
20150127209
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to animal repellent systems, and particularly to a bird repellent system including remotely or autonomously operated ground and airborne drone vehicles, the system being adapted particularly for use on and around airports.
2. Description of the Related Art
Airports and the surrounding areas that are often located near airports, e.g., landfills and other open land, open areas of water, etc., tend to attract most species of birds and fowl. Such areas are attractive to birds due to the plentiful low vegetation, insects and other small animal life available for feeding, and the suitable nesting grounds that such low vegetation provides for many bird species. While such birds tend to become acclimatized to aircraft noise and movement, they are not sedentary, and tend to fly for various purposes and at various times of day. While it is possible to predict the movements of some bird species to some extent, the fact remains that bird flight over and near airports is essentially impossible to predict with any significant degree of accuracy.
The problem arises when aircraft are departing or approaching the airport when birds are also flying in the immediate vicinity. While it is unlikely that a single small bird, or a very few such birds, will cause sufficient damage to even a small aircraft to cause the aircraft to make a forced landing or to crash, small birds in sufficient numbers and lesser numbers of larger birds have been known to cause such aircraft accidents, as is well known. Generally speaking, the smaller the aircraft and/or the faster the aircraft is traveling, the greater the likelihood of damage in the event of a collision with a bird or birds. While larger aircraft may not be so likely to be disabled due to a bird strike, their generally higher speeds and greater frontal area increases the likelihood of a bird strike for such aircraft.
As a result, a number of different systems have been developed in the past in attempts to dissuade birds from populating airports and other areas in the immediate vicinity. Stationary devices producing periodic sharp sounds, e.g., carbide cannons and other explosive devices, have found limited success due to their stationary locations and the relatively long periods between explosions. Other efforts have been made to produce sounds that mimic the distress cries of bird species in the area, but again, the stationary deployment of such devices and their only periodic use tend to minimize their effectiveness. In some instances, birds of prey (hawks and falcons) have been used to reduce the bird population in such areas. However, such efforts likely do no more than reduce the rate of population growth among birds in the area due to the limited number of birds that can be attacked in a given area and period of time and the fact that the use of such birds of prey must be curtailed when aircraft are flying in the immediate vicinity, which is the usual situation on and around most airports.
Thus, a bird repellent system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The bird repellent system is a mobile system in order to cover substantially the entire area of a large airport, and may include the immediately surrounding areas as well. While the present bird repellent system is adapted particularly for use on and around airports, it will be seen that it may be readily adapted to many other environments as well. The system includes a ground vehicle and an airborne vehicle, which communicate with one another for optimum effect. The vehicles are unmanned, and operate either autonomously or by remote control by a human operator, as required. The vehicles are programmed with a predetermined route of travel, and each includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for accurate navigation of the area. Each vehicle includes audio systems to repel birds from the vicinity. The audio repellent system may include distress calls of various species of birds in the area, or other sounds known to repel birds. The sounds may be in the range of human hearing, but may include sound frequencies in the ultrasonic region as well that are known to be detectable by various bird species.
The airborne vehicle of the system is preferably a rotorcraft, and more preferably a quad-rotor craft, in order to permit the craft to hover and loiter over a specific area as warranted by conditions. Both vehicles are equipped with solar cells for daylight operations and electrical storage batteries for operation when solar power is insufficient. The vehicles normally travel at a relatively slow speed, e.g., three mph, more or less. External signals may be sent to the craft to cause them to slow in a particular area, or to increase their speed through an area if there are few birds in the area. The airborne drone vehicle remains in relatively short range of the ground vehicle during normal operations, e.g., on the order of two hundred feet (more or less) above the ground vehicle, in order to optimize the repellent effect for birds both in flight and on the ground and to minimize interference with aircraft in the vicinity of the airport.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The bird repellent system utilizes a combination of autonomous or remotely controlled ground and airborne vehicles that continuously roam the grounds of the airport or other area where birds are to be dispelled. The two vehicles communicate with one another to work in concert with one another to repel birds from the area, whether the birds are on the ground or in flight.
The ground vehicle 10 preferably operates autonomously without any input from any remote human or other control, as noted further above. This may be accomplished by means of a conventional on-board computerized guidance system that is programmed with a predetermined route over which the vehicle 10 is to travel. The system may determine the location of the vehicle 10 by means of a conventional global positioning system (GPS) navigational system receiving navigational signals from the GPS satellite 20 (
There may be situations in which control of the vehicle 10 by a human operator(s) is desired, generally as illustrated in
The vehicle 10 is preferably electrically powered, using one or more conventional electric motors and a conventional electrical storage battery system. Electrical power for the drive system motor(s) and other electrical and electronic systems on board, e.g., the sound transmission and satellite navigation systems, may be provided by photovoltaic (solar) panels 34 disposed atop the vehicle 10. Periodic recharging of the on-board batteries may be provided from a ground station, as needed.
The airborne vehicle 12 may be of any suitable configuration, but is preferably a rotorcraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing to minimize the required operational area. Most preferably the airborne vehicle 12 is a quad-rotor rotorcraft, as illustrated in
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
