US 11,906,962 B2 · Unmanned aerial vehicle tracking and control

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for tracking and/or controlling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as well as tracking UAV controllers (UACs) within a cellular network. A UAV/UAC may provide a cellular network with tracking information such as speed, orientation, altitude, C2 communication quality, C2 communication mode change request, measurement report, RRC status, cell ID, TAC ID, current location of the UAV, and destination of the UAV. The network may forward this information to an unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management system (UTM). The UTM may determine, based in part on the tracking information, whether to transfer control of the UAV from the UAC to the UTM. In some embodiments, the UAV/UAC may trigger the UTM to transfer control of the UAV form the UAC to the UTM.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause a processor to:

receive, from a network entity, tracking information associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and/or a UAV controller (UAC) associated with the UAV, wherein the UAV is in a Network-Assisted control mode, and wherein the tracking information includes at least one of a UAV identifier (UAV ID) associated with the UAV or a UAC identifier (UAC ID) associated with the UAC;
determine, based on the tracking information associated with the UAV, to switch the UAV from the Network-Assisted control mode to a UTM-Navigated control mode;
and
send, to the network entity, a control mode change request, wherein the control mode change request includes a cause code and at least one of the UAV ID or UAC ID.

1 more element

An apparatus, comprising:

a memory;
and
a processing element in communication with the memory, wherein the processing element is configured to:
receive, from a network entity, tracking information associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and/or a UAV controller (UAC) associated with the UAV, wherein the UAV is in a first control mode supported by communications between the UAV and the UAC via a radio access network, and wherein the tracking information includes at least one of a UAV identifier (UAV ID) associated with the UAV or a UAC identifier (UAC ID) associated with the UAC;
determine, based on the tracking information associated with the UAV, to switch the UAV from the first control mode to a second control mode, wherein the second control mode is supported by communications between the UAV and the apparatus;
and
send, to the network entity, a control mode change request, wherein the control mode change request includes a cause code for the control mode change request and at least one of the UAV ID or UAC ID, and wherein the cause code is associated with a power level of the UAC dropping below a threshold.

4 more elements

A unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:

one or more antennas;
one or more radios, wherein each of the one or more radios is configured to perform cellular communication using at least one radio access technology (RAT);
one or more processors coupled to the one or more radios, wherein the one or more processors and the one or more radios are configured to perform voice and/or data communications;
wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the UAV to:
send, to a network entity, tracking information associated with the UAV and/or a UAV controller (UAC) associated with the UAV, wherein the UAV is in a Network-Assisted control mode, and wherein the tracking information includes at least one of a UAV identifier (UAV ID) associated with the UAV or a UAC identifier (UAC ID) associated with the UAC;
receive, from the network entity, a control mode change request indicating a switch of the UAV from the Network-Assisted control mode to a UTM-Navigated control mode, wherein the control mode change request includes at least one of the UAV ID or UAC ID;
and
send, to the network entity, a control mode change confirmation, wherein the control mode change request includes a cause code for the control mode change request and at least one of the UAV ID or UAC ID, and wherein the cause code is associated with the UAV not receiving any command and control (C2) communications from the UAC within a specified period of time.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Unmanned aerial vehicle tracking and control

Life of this patent

Unmanned aerial vehicle tracking and control

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20