Automatic UAV landing pad
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsHai Pham, Saul Cooper, Mark Finney, Arjun BJ
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation system includes a portable, ground-based landing pad comprising having a first antenna configured to transmit a data packet; a UAV comprising a second antenna configured to receive the data packet; and second processing circuitry configured to determine a signal strength between the first antenna and the second antenna; determine, based on the signal strength, an orientation of the vehicle relative to the landing pad; and determine, based on a time of flight of the data packet, a distance between the vehicle and the landing pad.
Claims18
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation system comprising:
- a portable, ground-based landing pad comprising:
- a first antenna;
- and
- first processing circuitry configured to cause the first antenna to transmit a data packet in response to determining that the UAV has lost a data communication with a controller, wherein the data communication comprises at least one of telemetry data, a navigation signal, a control signal, or a GPS signal, wherein the data packet comprises a time stamp and an identification number for the landing pad;
- a UAV comprising:
- a second antenna configured to receive the data packet;
- and
- second processing circuitry configured to:
- determine a signal strength between the first antenna and the second antenna;
- determine, based on the signal strength, an orientation of the UAV relative to the landing pad;
- and
- determine, based on a time of flight of the data packet, a distance between the UAV and the landing pad.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- an antenna, and
- processing circuitry configured to:
- receive, from a ground-based portable landing pad, a first data packet comprising a time stamp and an identification number for the landing pad;
- transmit, in response to receiving the first data packet and based on a determination that the UAV has lost a data communication with a controller, a second data packet to the landing pad;
- receive, from the landing pad, a third data packet comprising a distance between the UAV and the landing pad;
- and
- cause the UAV to navigate toward the landing pad based on the distance and an orientation of the UAV relative to the landing pad.
A method comprising:
- receiving, by a UAV from a ground-based portable landing pad, a first data packet comprising a time stamp and an identification number for the landing pad;
- transmitting, by the UAV in response to receiving the first data packet and based on a determination by the UAV that the UAV has lost a data communication with a controller, a second data packet to the landing pad;
- receiving, by the UAV from the landing pad, a third data packet comprising a distance between the UAV and the landing pad;
- and
- causing the UAV to navigate toward the landing pad based on the distance and an orientation of the UAV relative to the landing pad.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.