Geolocation-based beamforming for drone communication
AssigneeTaiSync Technology, Inc.
InventorYan Li
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
System and method of wireless communication in UAV systems that uses geolocation-based beamforming. The antenna array on the transmit device is first calibrated to compensate the random phase errors of the antenna. During operation, the geolocations of the UAV and its remote control and the rotational position of the transmit device are used to determine a beamforming direction. A beamforming vector is selected based on the beamforming direction. The beamformer on the transmit device then beamforms the antenna array such that data or other information can be transmitted to the receive device in the beamforming direction.
Claims20
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) device, comprising:
- a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor configured to determine a first set of geolocation information of the UAV device;
- one or more sensors configured to determine rotational information of the UAV device;
- a transceiver configured to receive, via a wireless communication protocol, a second set of geolocation information of a control device that is configured to control an operation of the UAV device;
- at least one processor configured to:
- determine a beamforming direction with respect to the control device based on the first set of geolocation information and the second set of geolocation information;
- and
- multiple antennas, wherein a direction of at least one of the multiple antennas is adjustable based on the beamforming direction.
A control device configured to control an operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) device, comprising:
- a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor configured to determine a first set of geolocation information of the control device;
- a transceiver configured to receive a second set of geolocation information of the UAV device via a wireless communication protocol that supports multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO);
- at least one processor configured to:
- determine a beamforming direction with respect to the control device based on the first set of geolocation information and the second set of geolocation information;
- and
- multiple antennas, wherein a direction of at least one of the multiple antennas is adjustable based on the beamforming direction.
A method of wireless communication applicable to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) device, comprising:
- determining, via a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor of the UAV device, a first set of geolocation information of the UAV device,
- receiving, by the UAV device via a wireless communication protocol that supports multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), a second set of geolocation information of a control device that is configured to control an operation of the UAV device;
- determining, by the UAV device, a beamforming direction with respect to the control device based on the first set of geolocation information and the second set of geolocation information;
- and
- adjusting a direction of at least one of multiple antennas of the UAV device based on the beamforming direction.
A method of wireless communication applicable to a remote controller configured to control an operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) device, comprising:
- determining, via a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor of the remote controller, a first set of geolocation information of the remote controller,
- receiving, by the remote controller via a wireless communication protocol that supports multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), a second set of geolocation information of the UAV device;
- determining, by the remote controller, a beamforming direction with respect to the UAV device based on the first set of geolocation information and the second set of geolocation information;
- and
- adjusting a direction of at least one of multiple antennas of the remote controller based on the beamforming direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.