System, apparatus, and method for providing augmented reality assistance to wayfinding and precision landing controls of an unmanned aerial vehicle to differently oriented inspection targets

A method, comprising:

• obtaining, at a first computing device from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), localization data associated with the UAV in relation to an environment of the UAV from one or more location and orientation sensors of the UAV;
• executing, at the first computing device, a navigation process by:
• obtaining a live video moving image from a first camera device of the UAV;
• determining a waypoint associated with an inspection point for inspecting a structure;
• generating a navigation display interface for display on a first display device of the first computing device, the navigation display interface comprising a plurality of navigation augmented reality (AR) display elements related to the determined waypoint superimposed over the live video moving image obtained from the first camera device of the UAV;
• and
• transmitting the navigation display interface to a second computing device,
• wherein the plurality of navigation AR display elements are generated based on the localization data obtained from the one or more location and orientation sensors of the UAV.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:

• a controller;
• a plurality of location and orientation sensors;
• an imaging system comprising a navigation imaging camera, a precision landing imaging camera, and one or more depth or stereo cameras;
• and
• a communication interface adapted to communicate with a computing device,
• wherein the controller is adapted to:
• operate the UAV in a navigation mode by:
• determining a location of the UAV based at least in part on information captured using the one or more depth or stereo cameras and the plurality of location and orientation sensors;
• relaying a first live video moving image from the navigation imaging camera to the computing device;
• and
• transmitting navigation localization data corresponding to one or more augmented reality (AR) navigation display elements to the computing device, the navigation localization data being obtained using the one or more depth or stereo cameras and the plurality of location and orientation sensors;
• and
• upon determining that the location of the UAV is proximate a waypoint associated with an inspection point for inspecting a structure, operate the UAV in a precision landing mode by:
• relaying a second live video moving image from the precision landing imaging camera to the computing device;
• transmitting precision landing localization data corresponding to one or more AR prevision landing display elements to the computing device, the navigation localization data being obtained using the one or more depth or stereo cameras and the plurality of location and orientation sensors.