# US 12,003,311 B2 · Dynamic control of an unmanned aerial vehicle using a reconfigurable intelligent surface > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,003,311 B2 - Document ID: US12003311B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/341,404 - Filed: 2021-06-08 - Published: 2022-10-06 - Granted: 2024-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2021-03-29 - Assignees: NEC Corporation - Applicants: NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH - Inventors: Francesco Devoti; Placido Mursia; Vincenzo Sciancalepore; Xavier Costa-Perez - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12003311B2 ## CPC - H04B 7/145: Passive relay systems - H04B 7/15528: {Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium} - H04B 7/04013: {Intelligent reflective surfaces} - H04W 16/28: using beam steering - B64U 2101/20: for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - B64U: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR ## Abstract A method for establishing a direct communication using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a reconfiguration intelligent surface (RIS) includes configuring RIS parameters based on compensating for undesired oscillations of a position and an orientation associated with the UAV. A signal reflection associated with a beam signal is steered to a target area based on the RIS parameters and by the RIS of the UAV. The signal beam is from a transmitter. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for establishing a direct communication using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a reconfiguration intelligent surface (RIS), the method comprising: configuring RIS parameters using an optimization algorithm based on compensating for undesired oscillations of a position and an orientation associated with the UAV, the undesired oscillations of the position and the orientation associated with the UAV representing an unknown position and an unknown orientation of the UAV during an optimization time; and steering, based on the RIS parameters and by the RIS of the UAV, a signal reflection associated with a signal beam to a target area, wherein the signal beam is from a transmitter. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: configuring, by the transmitter, beamforming to steer the signal beam towards the UAV, wherein the transmitter is a base station. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the RIS parameters are input voltages to one or more RIS elements that determine one or more phase shifts induced by the signal beam. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein configuring the RIS parameters comprises determining the RIS parameters using the optimization algorithm that compensates for the undesired oscillations based on second-order statistics of perturbations associated with the UAV. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method according to claim 4, wherein the optimization algorithm is based on mathematical optimization tools and/or artificial intelligence algorithms. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: maintaining the direct communication between the target area and the transmitter using the RIS of the UAV based on: continuously configuring new RIS parameters to compensate for the undesired oscillations of the UAV; and continuously steering the signal reflection associated with the signal beam using the new RIS parameters. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining sensor measurements from one or more sensors of the UAV, wherein the sensor measurements indicate one or more coordinates and the orientation of the UAV; and determining UAV statistics associated with the one or more coordinates and the orientation of the UAV, wherein configuring the RIS parameters is further based on the UAV statistics. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, wherein determining the UAV statistics associated with the one or more coordinates and the orientation of the UAV is based on building a rescaled histogram of the sensor measurements. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, from the transmitter, an area to be served; and performing area sampling based on the area to be served, wherein configuring the RIS parameters is based on performing the area sampling. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method according to claim 9, wherein performing the area sampling comprises: based on information not being available for user positions within the area to be served, generating sample points belonging to the area as uniformly spaced points; and based on a probability density function (pdf) being available for the user positions within the area to be served, generating the sample points belonging to the area according to the pdf. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter is a base station, and wherein the method further comprises: obtaining, from the base station, coordinates of the base station, wherein configuring the RIS parameters are based on the coordinates of the base station. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein configuring the RIS parameters is based on using a closed-form equation. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein configuring the RIS parameters is based on using semidefinite programming (SDP). ### Claim 14 A system for establishing a direct communication using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a reconfiguration intelligent surface (RIS), the system comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a signal beam to the UAV; and the UAV with the RIS, wherein the UAV is configured to: configure RIS parameters using an optimization algorithm based on compensating for undesired oscillations of a position and an orientation associated with the UAV, the undesired oscillations of the position and the orientation associated with the UAV representing an unknown position and an unknown orientation of the UAV during an optimization time; and steer, based on the RIS parameters and by the RIS of the UAV, a signal reflection associated with the signal beam to a target area. ### Claim 15 A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions thereon which, upon being executed by one or more processors, alone or in combination, provide for execution of a method comprising: configuring reconfiguration intelligent surface (RIS) parameters using an optimization algorithm based on compensating for undesired oscillations of a position and an orientation associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the undesired oscillations of the position and the orientation associated with the UAV representing an unknown position and an unknown orientation of the UAV during an optimization time, wherein the UAV comprises the RIS; and steering, based on the RIS parameters and by the RIS of the UAV, a signal reflection associated with a signal beam to a target area, wherein the signal beam is from a transmitter. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the optimization algorithm generates a statistical representation associated with the position and the orientation associated with the UAV using UAV statistics of the UAV, and uses the statistical representation to optimize the RIS configuration and counteract potential misalignment in a reflected beam at the RIS.