Dynamic Channel Selection For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Technology is disclosed herein for dynamically selecting a communication channel for communication between an unmanned aerial vehicle and an access point. In an implementation, an unmanned aerial vehicle selects a current channel for communicating with an access point by performing a scan of the communication channels and, for each channel, generating a score based on performance metrics acquired during the scan. The communication channels are sorted into an ordered list according to the scores of the communication channels. The vehicle selects the first channel of the ordered list to be the current channel and periodically evaluates the channel performance against a performance threshold. Upon determining that the performance of the current channel is below the performance threshold, the vehicle evaluates the second channel from the ordered list.

Description

Claims

1. A method of operating an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising: selecting a current channel from among multiple channels for communication with an access point, wherein selecting the current channel comprises: performing a scan of the multiple channels;for each channel of the multiple channels, generating a score based on performance metrics acquired during the scan;sorting the multiple channels into an ordered list according to the scores of the channels, wherein the ordered list includes a first channel corresponding to a channel with a best score relative to others of the scores, a second channel corresponding to a channel with a second-best score relative to others of the scores, and a third channel corresponding to a channel with a third-best score relative to others of the scores; andselecting the first channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point;periodically evaluating a performance of the first channel against a performance threshold; andupon determining that the performance of the first channel is below the performance threshold, evaluating a performance of the second channel of the ordered list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the second channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point based on the performance of the second channel.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, upon determining that the performance of the second channel is below the performance threshold, evaluating a performance of the third channel of the ordered list, and selecting the third channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point based on the performance of the third channel.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: upon determining that the performance of the third channel is below the performance threshold, re-selecting the current channel from among the multiple channels and periodically evaluating the performance of the current channel against the performance threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a score for a given channel based on the performance metrics acquired during the scan comprises determining the performance metrics for the given channel and summing the performance metrics for the given channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the performance metrics comprises, for each performance metric: capturing scan data;scaling the scan data to a value between 0 and 100, resulting in scaled data; andapplying a weight to the scaled data, wherein the weight is determined according to a performance profile.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the scan data include a noise floor, a percentage of clear airtime, a BSS count, an RSSI metric, and a physical layer error count.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, from the access point, a channel score generated by the access point for the given channel; andwherein generating the score for the given channel based on the performance metrics acquired during the scan further comprises averaging the channel score generated by the access point for the given channel with the score for the given channel generated based on performance metrics acquired during the scan.

9. An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising: a communication system onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle comprising one or more processors; andone or more computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors of the communication system, direct the communication system to at least: select a current channel from among multiple channels for communication with an access point, wherein to select the current channel, the program instructions direct the communication system to: perform a scan of the multiple channels;for each channel of the multiple channels, generate a score based on performance metrics acquired during the scan;sort the multiple channels into an ordered list according to the scores of the multiple channels, wherein the ordered list includes a first channel corresponding to a channel with a best score relative to the other scores, a second channel corresponding to a channel with a second-best score relative to the other scores, and a third channel corresponding to a channel with a third-best score relative to the other scores; andselect the first channel of the ordered list to be the current channel;periodically evaluate performance of the current channel against a performance threshold; andupon determining that the performance of the current channel is below the performance threshold, evaluate a performance of the second channel of the ordered list.

10. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 9, wherein the program instructions further direct the communication system to select the second channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point based on the performance of the second channel.

11. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 10, wherein the program instructions further direct the communication system to: upon determining that the performance of the second channel is below the performance threshold, evaluate a performance of the third channel of the ordered list, and, based on the performance of the third channel, select the third channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point.

12. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the program instructions further direct the communication system to: upon determining that the performance of the third channel is below the performance threshold, re-select the current channel from among the multiple channels and periodically evaluate the performance of the current channel against the performance threshold.

13. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 9, wherein to generate the score for a given channel based on the performance metrics acquired during the scan, the program instructions direct the communication system to determine the performance metrics for the given channel and sum the performance metrics for the given channel.

14. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 13, wherein to determine the performance metrics the program instructions direct the communication system to, for each performance metric: capture scan data;scale the scan data to a value between 0 and 100, resulting in scaled data; andapply a weight to the scaled data, wherein the weight is determined according to a performance profile.

15. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the scan data include a noise floor, a percentage of clear airtime, a BSS count, an RSSI metric, and a physical layer error count.

16. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 13, wherein the program instructions further direct the communication system to: receive, from the access point, a channel score generated by the access point for the given channel; andwherein to generate the score for the given channel based on the performance metrics acquired during the scan, the program instructions further direct the communication system to average the channel score generated by the access point for the given channel with the score for the given channel generated based on the performance metrics acquired during the scan.

17. One or more computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors operatively coupled to the one or more computer readable storage media, direct a computing device to at least: select a current channel from among multiple channels for communication with an access point, wherein to select the current channel, the program instructions direct the computing device to: perform a scan of the multiple channels;for each channel of the multiple channels, generate a score based on performance metrics acquired during the scan;sort the multiple channels into an ordered list according to the scores of the multiple channels, wherein the ordered list includes a first channel corresponding to a channel with a best score relative to the other scores, a second channel corresponding to a channel with a second-best score relative to the other scores, and a third channel corresponding to a channel with a third-best score relative to the other scores; andselect the first channel of the ordered list to be the current channel;periodically evaluate performance of the current channel against a performance threshold; andupon determining that the performance of the current channel is below the performance threshold, evaluate the second channel of the ordered list.

18. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 17, the program instructions further directing the computing device to select the second channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point.

19. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 18, the program instructions further directing the computing device to, upon determining that the performance of the current channel is below the performance threshold, select the third channel of the ordered list to be the current channel for communication with the access point.

20. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 19, the program instructions further directing the computing device to, upon determining that the performance of the current channel is below the performance threshold, re-select the current channel from among the multiple channels and periodically evaluate the performance of the current channel against the performance threshold.