Patent Issued for System and method for mission planning and flight automation for unmanned aircraft (USPTO 11892845): Insurance Services Office Inc.

2024 FEB 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Defense & Aerospace Daily -- Insurance Services Office Inc. (Jersey City, New Jersey, United States) has been issued patent number 11892845, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Lewis, Jeffery D. (Orem, UT, US), Reed, Corey D. (Cedar Hills, UT, US), Taylor, Jeffrey C. (Alpine, UT, US), Tomkinson, Troy (Saratoga Springs, UT, US).

This patent was filed on July 27, 2021 and was published online on February 6, 2024.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote:

“Technical Field

“The present disclosure relates generally to the field of unmanned aircraft technology. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for flight planning and flight automation for unmanned aircraft.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present disclosure relates to a system and method for mission planning and flight automation for unmanned aircraft. The system includes at least one hardware processor including a controller configured to generate and execute a flight plan that automatically detects and avoids obstacles present in a flight path for capturing the images, requiring no (or, minimal) user involvement. The system can also include the ability to predict obstacles in flight paths, and automatically calculate a flight path that avoids predicted obstacles.

“The system first loads an imagery map of the capture area from an imagery database. The imagery could include, but is not limited to, aerial imagery, LiDAR imagery, satellite imagery, etc. Alternatively, the system may generate a real time aerial imagery map. Then, the system generates a flight plan based on criteria to capture the required images to create a precise and comprehensive model of a desired feature (such as a structure, a portion or attribute of a structure, and/or property present in the images). The system then compares the aerial imagery map with the generated flight plan and determines whether there are possible collisions between obstacles associated with the aerial imagery map (e.g., trees, power lines, windmills, etc.) and the unmanned aircraft. If collisions are not present, the system executes the initial flight plan. If collisions are present, the system modifies the flight plan to avoid the obstacles and executes the modified flight plan.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for flight planning for an unmanned aircraft, comprising: an unmanned aircraft; and a processor in communication with the unmanned aircraft, the processor: generating an aerial imagery map; identifying at least one object in the aerial imagery map as at least one flight path obstacle if the at least one object intersects a three-dimensional region defined around at least a portion of a potential flight path of the unmanned aircraft; generating at least one geometric buffer around the at least one flight path obstacle; generating a flight plan including at least one flight path segment that avoids intersecting the geometric buffer around the at least one flight path obstacle; and executing the generated flight plan.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor receives an aerial imagery data package of the capture area from a database, the aerial image data package being a pre-existing digital terrain model.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart telephone, a server or a cloud-based computing platform.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the generated flight plan is based on a field of view of a camera attached to the unmanned aircraft, a height of the feature to be captured, and a footprint of the feature to be captured.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor causes the unmanned aircraft to: ascend to a nadir view elevation; navigate to and capture at least one nadir view; navigate to and capture connecting images; navigate to and capture at least one oblique view; navigate to a take off latitude and longitude; and descend to an automatic landing elevation.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor: determines an amount of connecting images to be captured to provide contiguous overlapping images as the unmanned aircraft moves along the generated flight plan; and determines an amount of oblique views to be captured to provide coverage of the feature.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor modifies the at least one flight path segment based on a buffer height associated with the at least one obstacle.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor: determines a vertical parabolic flight path over the obstacle when the buffer height associated with the obstacle is more than a threshold; adds the determined vertical parabolic flight path segment to the flight plan; determines an amount of image captures along the added vertical parabolic segment; and determines and sets a pitch of a gimbal for each image capture.

“9. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor: determines a horizontal parabolic flight path around the obstacle when the buffer height associated with the obstacle is less than a threshold; adds the determined horizontal parabolic flight path segment to the flight plan; determines an amount of image captures along the added horizontal parabolic segment; and determines and sets a pitch of a gimbal for each image capture.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor: monitors at least one sensor of the unmanned aircraft; determines, based on the monitoring, whether the unmanned aircraft encounters an unexpected obstacle along the flight plan; and controls, based on the determination, the unmanned aircraft to evade the unexpected obstacle.

“11. A method for mission planning and flight automation for an unmanned aircraft comprising the steps of: generating an aerial imagery map; identifying at least one object in the aerial imagery map as at least one flight path obstacle if the at least one object intersects a three-dimensional region defined around at least a portion of a potential flight path of the unmanned aircraft; generating at least one geometric buffer around the at least one flight path obstacle; generating a flight plan including at least one flight path segment that avoids intersecting the geometric buffer around the at least one flight path obstacle; and executing the generated flight plan to control the unmanned aircraft.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving an aerial imagery data package of the capture area from a database, the aerial image data package being a pre-existing digital terrain model.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart telephone, a server or a cloud-based computing platform.

“14. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated flight plan is based on a field of view of a camera attached to the unmanned aircraft, a height of the feature to be captured, and a footprint of the feature to be captured.

“15. The method of claim 11, further comprising controlling the unmanned aircraft to: ascend to a nadir view elevation; navigate to and capture at least one nadir view; navigate to and capture connecting images; navigate to and capture at least one oblique view; navigate to a take off latitude and longitude; and descend to an automatic landing elevation.

“16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining an amount of connecting images to be captured to provide contiguous overlapping images as the unmanned aircraft moves along the generated flight plan; and determining an amount of oblique views to be captured to provide coverage of the feature.

“17. The method of claim 11, further comprising modifying the at least one flight path segment based on a buffer height associated with the at least one obstacle.

“18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: determining a vertical parabolic flight path over the obstacle when the buffer height associated with the obstacle is more than a threshold; adding the determined vertical parabolic flight path segment to the flight plan; determining an amount of image captures along the added vertical parabolic segment; and determining and setting a pitch of a gimbal for each image capture.

“19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: determining a horizontal parabolic flight path around the obstacle when the buffer height associated with the obstacle is less than a threshold; adding the determined horizontal parabolic flight path segment to the flight plan; determining an amount of image captures along the added horizontal parabolic segment; and determining and setting a pitch of a gimbal for each image capture.

“20. The method of claim 11, further comprising: monitoring at least one sensor of the unmanned aircraft; determining, based on the monitoring, whether the unmanned aircraft encounters an unexpected obstacle along the flight plan; and controlling, based on the determination, the unmanned aircraft to evade the unexpected obstacle.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Lewis, Jeffery D. System and method for mission planning and flight automation for unmanned aircraft. U.S. Patent Number 11892845, filed July 27, 2021, and published online on February 6, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11892845)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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