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US 12,729,960 B2Granted
Ground control point assignment and determination system
AssigneeSkydio, Inc.
InventorsBernard J. Michini, Brett Michael Bethke, Fabien Blanc-Paques
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for ground control point assignment and determination. One of the methods includes receiving information describing a flight plan for the UAV to implement, the flight plan identifying one or more waypoints associated with geographic locations assigned as ground control points. A first waypoint identified in the flight plan is traveled to, and an action to designate a surface at the associated geographic location is designated as a ground control point. Location information associated with the designated surface is stored. The stored location information is provided to an outside system for storage.
Claims23
A computerized method comprising:
- receiving a flight plan to perform a job using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), wherein the job includes inspecting an area and the flight plan identifies one or more waypoints proximate to or within the area;
- for at least one of the one or more waypoints:
- navigating the UAV to the waypoint;
- and
- executing, by the UAV prior to the job, an action to designate the waypoint as a ground control point (GCP) including:
- determining a three-dimensional position of the UAV at a time of designating the GCP;
- determining an altitude of the UAV relative to a ground surface using one or more sensors;
- computing, based on the altitude and imaging geometry of a camera of the UAV, a projected ground coordinate corresponding to the GCP;
- wherein the projected ground coordinate defines a geographic location of the GCP using a separate imaging or localization operation distinct from imagery captured during the job;
- and
- performing the job by capturing, using a camera of the UAV, images usable to generate rectified images associated with the inspection of the area based, at least in part, on the projected ground coordinates of the GCPs.
8 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- one or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- receive a flight plan to perform a job for an inspection of an area using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the flight plan identifying one or more waypoints proximate to or within the area;
- for at least one of the one or more waypoints:
- navigate the UAV to the waypoint;
- and
- perform, by the UAV prior to the job, an action to designate the waypoint as a ground control point (GCP) including:
- determining a three-dimensional position of the UAV at a time of designating the GCP;
- determining an altitude of the UAV relative to a ground surface using one or more sensors;
- computing, based on the altitude and imaging geometry of a camera of the UAV, a projected ground coordinate corresponding to the GCP;
- wherein the projected ground coordinate defines a geographic location of the GCP using a separate imaging or localization operation distinct from imagery captured during the job;
- and
- perform the job by capturing, using a camera of the UAV, images usable to generate rectified images associated with the inspection of the area based, at least in part, on the projected ground coordinates of the GCP.
9 more elements
An aerial vehicle comprising:
- a body including a chassis and a frame affixed to the chassis;
- a plurality of rotor assemblies;
- a plurality of rotor arms, each rotor arm having a distal end, and a proximal end structurally coupled to the body and a rotor assembly of the plurality of rotor assemblies structurally coupled to the distal end;
- an interface configured to receive a flight plan to perform a job using the aerial vehicle, wherein the job comprises an instruction to inspect an area and the flight plan identifies one or more waypoints proximate to or within the area;
- and
- a processing system configured to:
- designate ground control points by, for at least one of the one or more waypoints:
- navigating the UAV to the waypoint, and
- performing, prior to the job, an action to designate the waypoint as a ground control point (GCP) including:
- determining a three-dimensional position of the UAV at a time of designating the GCP;
- determining an altitude of the UAV relative to a ground surface using one or more sensors;
- computing, based on the altitude and imaging geometry of a camera of the UAV, a projected ground coordinate corresponding to the GCP;
- wherein the projected ground coordinate defines a geographic location of the GCP using a separate imaging or localization operation distinct from imagery captured during the job;
- and
- perform the job by capturing, using a camera of the UAV, images usable to generate rectified images associated with the inspection of the area based, at least in part, on the projected ground coordinates.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.