Patent Application
20170233097
This application claims the benefit of China Patent Application No. 201610086318.5 filed on Feb. 15, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
This invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying method and an UAV flying system, and more particularly, to the UAV flying method and the UAV flying system helping an UAV flying back to a location of an owner of the UAV or to a predetermined place under a hijack mode.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a flying vehicle for specific task by remote controlling or auto-guiding technology. Compared to the traditional flying vehicles, UAV has merits of lower operational cost, wider use, and less supporting equipment. UAV was used in the military field at first. Tactical UAV can fly for at least 20 hours, and up to at least 5,486.4 meters height.
Recently, UAV is developed in many fields because of its better adaptation to different environments than that of manned aerial vehicle. Besides military field, UAV is used for scientific observation, disaster relief, cargo transport, or commercial aerial photography in nongovernment fields. UAV includes little distance UAV and short distance UAV. Little UAVs can bear a burden under 5 kg and fly in low height for 5 km. The flying distance of short distance UAV extends to 20 km. These UAVs are called small-UAVs or mini-UAVs, and there is a smaller UAV called Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) which has a wingspan under 0.5 m and a flying distance under 2 km. MAV capable of following a person and capturing image of target has been available in the prior art.
The requirements of microminiaturization to UAV rise with the popularization and usage fields of UAV. However, the hijacking probability might also increase with the microminiaturization of UAV. For example, the large UAV for aerial delivery cargos is hard to be captured because of its large size; oppositely, micro-sized UAV could be captured by even a single person with a net. On the other hand, the micro-sized UAV might be influenced easily by the environment to deviate from the predetermined flight path or crash. Once the micro-sized UAV crashes, it is hard to rescue the UAV because it is very hard to find for its small size.
Therefore, a novel UAV flying method or system for helping an UAV returning or sending information about the present position of UAV should be provided to solve the problems in the prior art.
One of the scopes of the present invention is to provide an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flying method for helping an UAV flying back to a location of an owner or flying to a predetermined place. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the UAV flying method includes the following steps: triggering the UAV into a hijacked mode; ascertaining if the UAV is capable of flying or not; and, the UAV flying to the location of the owner or to the predetermined place if the UAV is capable of flying.
In this embodiment, the UAV starts to fly back to the location of the owner or to the predetermined place when the UAV is under the hijacked mode and capable of flying. The UAV could be triggered into the hijacked mode by a triggering signal sent from the owner, or be triggered into the hijacked mode when the UAV is under an auto-guiding mode but deviates from a predetermined flight path. The step of ascertaining if the UAV is capable of flying or not could proceed via ascertaining the energy level of the UAV and ascertaining if the environment around the UAV is suitable to fly or not. If the energy level of the UAV is higher than a threshold value and the environment around the UAV is suitable to fly, the UAV is ascertained to be capable of flying. Once any of the results of the above-mentioned ascertainments is negative, the UAV is ascertained to be not capable of flying.
In another embodiment, the UAV flying method further includes the following step: the UAV sending a distress signal to the owner if the UAV is not capable of flying, so as to inform the owner the surrounding information around the UAV to assist the rescue.
Another scope of the present invention is to provide an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flying system for helping an UAV flying back to the location of the owner or flying to a predetermined place. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the UAV flying system includes a central control unit configured on the UAV. The central control unit has a hijack processing program and executes a procedure according to the hijack processing program. The central control unit ascertains if the UAV is capable of flying or not according to the hijack processing program. If the UAV is capable of flying, the central control unit controls the UAV to fly to the location of the owner or the predetermined place. If the UAV is not capable of flying, the central control unit controls the UAV to send a distress signal to the owner.
On the advantages and the spirit of the invention, it can be understood further by the following invention descriptions and attached drawings.
As shown in
Besides, the UAV flying method further includes step S16. In step S16, the UAV sends a distress signal to the owner if the UAV is under the hijacked mode but not capable of flying, so as to assist the owner to rescue the UAV. In detail, the owner has a control interface to remotely control the UVA, and the distress signal sent from the UAV in step S16 could be transmitted to the control interface via wireless transmission to inform the owner that the UAV is under the hijacked mode. In practice, the control interface could be different types of remote controller, such as portable smart phone, tablet, notebook, or stationary computer or control system.
The distress signal sent from the UAV in step S16 could contain any information which helps the rescue, such as the present location of the UAV, images or sounds of the surroundings recorded by the UAV, the energy level of the UAV, and SOS signal. The owner might be able to determine the present location and the situation of the UAV after obtaining the information from the distress signal, and then rescue the UAV.
Therefore, in this embodiment, the UAV flies to the location of the owner or the predetermined place when the UAV is under the hijacked mode and capable of flying to avoid the loss. Besides, the UAV sends the distress signal including the present position and present status of UAV to the owner when the UAV is under the hijacked mode but not capable of flying.
The timing for triggering the UAV into the hijacked mode could be decided by the owner or by the UAV itself. Please refer to
In this embodiment, the UAV flying method further includes the following steps: in step S100, triggering the UAV into the hijacked mode according to a triggering signal; and in step S102, triggering the UAV into the hijacked mode when the UAV in under an auto-guiding mode but deviates from a predetermined flight path.
In step S100, the triggering signal for triggering the UAV into the hijacked mode could be sent by the owner. For example, when the UAV is set to follow the owner, specific person or object but loses the way, the owner could send the triggering signal by the control interface via the wireless transmission. The control interface could be on the owner side so as to remote control the UAV. Besides the triggering function, the triggering signal sent by the owner could further include information of the location of the owner or the predetermined place, so that the UAV is capable of flying to the predetermined place according to the information in the following steps.
On the other hand, the UAV could be triggered into the hijacked mode by itself. In step S102, the UAV is originally under an auto-guiding mode to fly to a destination, where one or more predetermined paths could be chosen by the UAV in the auto-guiding mode. The UAV might be captured or held by someone when the UAV deviates from the predetermined flight paths, so that UAV triggers itself into the hijacked mode, and then the following steps S12, S14 or S16 would be executed to check the state of UAV, drive UAV to the location of the owner or the predetermined place, or send the distress signal.
In the embodiments shown in
In step S122, the environment around the UAV could be judged if suitable to fly or not according to how spacious the space around the UAV is. For example, in a small space such as in a car or chamber, the environment is judged as not suitable for UAV to fly; in the outdoors space, the environment is judged as suitable for UAV to fly. In practice, an optical device or an acoustic device, such as image capturing device or acoustic wave emitting device, could be installed in the UAV to detect or calculate how spacious the space around the UAV is.
In step S120, the first threshold value of energy level of the UAV could be set according to a relation among a flying distance, flying speed and energy consumption. The first threshold value could be preset in the UAV. In detail, the first threshold value of energy level of the UAV represents the distance which the UAV can fly for. The first threshold value could be configured to enable the UAV fly to afford a safe distance from the original location, so as to avoid re-capture from the captor. Besides, the first threshold value could be obtained by the UAV itself by calculating the distance between the UAV and location of the owner. For example, the UAV could receive the location of the owner from the distress signal and calculate the distance between the UAV and the location of the owner by comparing the locations, and then calculate the energy consumption required for flying for the distance. The UAV could take a certain percentage of the energy consumption (such as 60%, less than 60%, or more than 60%) as the first threshold value.
The step of ascertaining if an energy level of the UAV is higher than a first threshold value or not could be executed not only before the flight (as shown in step S120) but also during the flight in practice. Please refer to
In this embodiment, the second threshold value in step S180 could be the same or not the same with the first threshold value in step S120. In step S180, the second threshold value could be set as the energy level which is higher than the energy consumption required by the UAV for landing, observing the environment, and sending the distress signal. A camera or sound recorder could be configured in the UAV for recording the images or sounds of the environment around the UAV after the UAV lands, and then the UAV could send the recorded images or sounds with the distress signal.
During the way back to the location of the owner or the predetermined place, the UAV might be stopped flying by an unusual state besides the low energy level. The unusual state includes at least one of stall, sudden drop, and imbalance of the airframe of the UAV. The unusual state might be caused by the damage to the main body or the wings of the UAV when the UAV was caught by the captor, or caused by the accidents during the auto-guiding mode, such as hitting the tree, influenced by the weather, or attacked by the birds.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, the first distress signal sent in step S200 could include the present state of the UAV, such as the present energy level, the details of the unusual state, the part in the unusual state, the location of UAV. In practice, the UAV is capable of choosing to land or to keep flying after entering the crashing mode. No matter the UAV lands or keeps flying to crash, the UAV executes step S204 to check if a communication function of the UAV is operative or not and to send the second distress signal after the UAV stops flying. The second distress signal could include the environment information around the landing or crashing location of the UAV, so as to help the owner to find the UAV.
The steps about the crashing mode (step S200 to S204) are not limited to be executed during the UAV flying back to the location of the owner or the predetermined place in practice. Those steps could be continuously executed during the normal flight of the UAV, so as to assist the owner to be aware of the unusual state of the UAV and to find the UAV easily after crashing.
Accordingly, the UAV flying method of the present invention helps the UAV to return to the location of the owner or the predetermined place from hijacked state or lost state. When the UAV is in a bad situation, such as damage on the body or low energy level, or is not capable of flying at the present location, the UAV sends the distress signal to help the owner to find the UAV according to it.
As described above, the UAV flying method of the present invention makes the UAV entering hijacked mode under the captured state or lost state, flying to the location of the owner or the predetermined place after ascertaining the present state of the UAV. Therefore, the UAV flying method is capable of avoiding or lowering the loss caused by losing the UAV or the UAV captured by the captor.
The UAV flying methods in the above-mentioned embodiments could be executed by the UAV flying system of the present invention. Please refer to
Besides the central control unit 30, the UAV flying system 3 further includes a communicating device 32 configured on the UAV U and connected to the central control unit 30, and a control interface 34 configured on the side of the owner. The communicating device 32 could be used for receiving a triggering signal sent from the control interface 34 and transmitting the triggering signal to the central control unit 30. The central control unit 30 triggers the hijack processing program 300 according to the received triggering signal.
The communicating device 32 communicates or connects the control interface 34 via any type of wireless communicating technologies, such as wireless local area network technologies of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or wireless wide area network technologies of 3G/4G wireless network.
The procedure executed by the central control unit 30 according to the hijack processing program 300 includes the steps described in the above-mentioned embodiment: ascertaining if an energy level of the UAV U is higher than a first threshold value or not; ascertaining if the environment around the UAV U is suitable to fly or not; controlling the UAV U flying to the location of the owner or the predetermined place if the results of the ascertaining steps are yes; and controlling the communicating device 32 to send a distress signal to the owner to assist the rescue if any of the results of the ascertaining steps is no. The distress signal includes the present position of the UAV, images or sounds of the surroundings recorded by the UAV, the energy level of the UAV, and SOS signal, so that the owner might be able to determine the present position and the situation of the UAV after obtaining the information from the distress signal.
The central control unit 30 requires the cooperation with other devices configured in the UAV to execute the procedure. As shown in
The central control unit 30 is capable of controlling the image capturing device 36 to capture an image of the surroundings around the UAV U at the step of ascertaining if the environment around the UAV U is suitable to fly or not executed by the central control unit 30 according to the hijack processing program 300, so as to further judge if there is enough space for flying. The central control unit 30 is also capable of attaching the image captured by the image capturing device 36 in the distress signal and sending the image with the distress signal to the owner by the communicating device 32, so as to inform the owner the conditions of the surrounding around the UAV U. The locating device 37 is capable of obtaining the present location of the UAV U, and the central control unit 30 is capable of calculating the distance between the present location UAV U and the location of the owner or the predetermined place, and the flight path. Also, the central control unit 30 is capable of attaching the present location obtained by the locating device 37 in the distress signal and sending the present location with the distress signal to the owner by the communicating device 32, so as to inform the owner where the UAV U is. The central control unit 30 could control the flying device driving the UAV U to fly to the location of the owner or the predetermined place after ascertaining that the UAV is capable of flying.
During the returning way of the UAV U, the UAV U might not reach the location of the owner or the predetermined place because of low energy level. The central control unit 30 keeps checking if the energy level of the UAV U is lower than a threshold value on the way back to the location of the owner or the predetermined place, and controls the UAV U landing and sending a distress signal to the control interface 34 on the owner side when the energy level of the UAV U is lower than the threshold value. Similarly, the central control unit 30 is capable of controlling the image capturing device 36 to capture one or more images of the surroundings around the landing point of the UAV U, and controlling the locating device 37 to obtain the landing location of the UAV U. The central control unit 30 is capable of attaching the images, the landing location, and the residual power in the distress signal, so as to inform the owner about the landing location, the present state of the UAV U, and the environment around the UAV U to assist the rescue.
Please refer to
The central control unit 30 executes a crash procedure according to the crash processing program 304 once ascertaining that the UAV U is under the unusual state. In detail, the crash procedure includes sending a first distress signal once detecting the unusual state; checking if the communication function of communicating device 32 is operative or not after the UAV stops flying under the unusual state no matter the UAV U lands itself or keeps flying to crash; and sending a second distress signal by the communicating device 32 when the communication function is operative. Therefore, the owner could obtain the location of the UAV U according to the first distress signal and the second distress signal and then the rescue would be executed more smoothly and easily.
In the above-mentioned embodiment, the central control unit 30 triggers the hijack processing program 300 according to the received triggering signal, and then executes the procedure according to the hijack processing program 300. However, the central control unit 30 is capable of determining to trigger the hijack processing program 300 by itself in practice. Please refer to
As described above, the UAV flying system could trigger the hijack processing program when the UAV is hijacked or deviates from the predetermined flight paths. The procedure under the hijack processing program includes flying to the location of the owner or the predetermined place after ascertaining that the UAV is capable of flying, or sending the distress signal to the owner after ascertaining that the UAV is not capable of flying to assist the rescue. Therefore, the UAV flying system of the invention is capable of avoiding or lowering the loss caused by losing the UAV or the UAV being captured by the captor.
Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it should be understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiment but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201610086318.5 | Feb 2016 | CN | national |
