Anomalous payload detection for multirotor unmanned aerial systems
AssigneeVantage Robotics, LLC
InventorJohannes Becker Van Niekerk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A modular unmanned aerial system (UAS) can be configured to detect an anomalous UAS configuration or operating condition, and to notify the user or inhibit further operation of the UAS in response to such a detection. An indication of the actual rotational speed of the motor or of the flight power needed to hold the UAS in a hover state may be compared to a predicted value based upon the expected UAS configuration. A variance between the actual values and the predicted values may indicate that the UAS is in an unauthorized configuration, which may be due to an unauthorized payload. The UAS may be a modular system, and may take into account authorized and attached modules in predicting the thrust required to hold the UAS in a hover state.
Claims20
An unmanned aerial system (UAS) comprising:
- a UAS body;
- a plurality of propellers supported by the UAS body, each of the plurality of propellers driven by one of a plurality of motors;
- a sensor supported by the UAS body;
- a processor in communication with the sensor, the processor configured to:
- receive an indication of a rotational speed at which at least one of the plurality of motors is rotating;
- receive information from the sensor;
- determine an indication of predicted flight power based on at least one of information received from the sensor and the indication of rotational speed of the motor;
- and
- detect an anomalous UAS configuration based at least on the determined indication of flight power.
An unmanned aerial system (UAS) comprising:
- a UAS body, the UAS body comprising at least one module coupling mechanism configured to support and retain a removable UAS component;
- a plurality of propellers supported by the UAS body, each of the plurality of propellers driven by one of a plurality of motors;
- a sensor supported by the UAS body;
- a processor in communication with the sensor, the processor configured to:
- receive an indication of a rotational speed at which at least one of the plurality of motors is rotating;
- receive information from the sensor;
- determine an indication of predicted flight power based on at least one of information received from the sensor and the indication of rotational speed of the motor;
- and
- determine whether an unauthorized UAS component is attached to the UAS based at least on the determined indication of flight power.
A method of detecting an anomalous UAS configuration, the method comprising:
- receiving information from a sensor supported by the UAS;
- receiving information indicative of the rotational speed of at least one motor driving a propeller of the UAS;
- determining an indication of flight power based on at least one of the information received from the sensor and the indication of rotational speed of the motor;
- and
- detecting an anomalous UAS configuration based at least on the determined indication of flight power.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.