Drone based data collection
OwnerRoger Allcorn, Floyd Stanley Salser +1inventors
InventorsRoger Allcorn, Floyd Stanley Salser, William Monty Simmons
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Abstract
The disclosed inventions include and apparatus and method for providing a universal Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system configured with fly-by functionality. Such system may be configured to work in a plurality of modes including a walk-bay, drive-by, fixed network, and fly-by mode without hardware modifications. The system is configured to automatically calibrate so that the water meter transmitter operates at a minimum transmitted signal power level. Additional features include automatic hardware self-healing features where the system continues to function after certain hardware failures occur.
Claims9
A drone tower device for collecting data from a plurality of data locations, said drone tower device comprising:
- an airborne device comprising a transceiver configured for storing and executing route management code for a predefined data collection area for a plurality of data locations and wherein said airborne device is configured to track the passage of time and further configured to track its location within the predefined data collection area;
- wherein said airborne device is configured to wakeup when the airborne device determines a data collection session is to begin or a data collection session is requested from a remote device and maneuvers according to a predefined flight pattern within said predefined data collection area and listen for data-signals transmitted from said plurality of data locations;
- and
- wherein the airborne device is self-calibrating to alter said flight pattern to travel closer to the data signal source so that the power level for said transmitted data-signals can be reduced.
A unmanned drone device for collecting data from a plurality of data locations, said drone device comprising:
- an unmanned drone comprising a processor programmed to maneuver within a predefined data collection area comprising a plurality of data sources;
- wherein said unmanned drone maneuvers within said predefined data collection area and listens for data-signals transmitted by said plurality of data sources;
- and
- wherein said unmanned drone is self-calibrating to alter said flight pattern to travel closer to a data source transmitting a data signal above a predefined power level so that the power level for said transmitted data-signal can be reduced.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.