Systems and methods for switching of video streams provided to a ground station from various sources onboard an unmanned aerial vehicle

A system for operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the system comprising:

• one or more camera sensors for capturing a video stream;
• and
• at least one computing device disposed onboard the UAV and operably coupled to the one or more camera sensors, the at least one computing device configured to:
• determine a capability of a ground station communicably coupled with the UAV to annotate the video stream;
• and
• in response to the ground station being determined to be capable of annotating the video stream, cause the video stream to be transmitted to the ground station without annotations;
• or
• in response to the ground station being determined to be incapable of annotating the video stream,
• draw annotations on the video stream to generate an annotated video stream;
• encode the annotated video stream to generate an encoded annotated video stream;
• cause the encoded annotated video stream to be transmitted to the ground station;
• and
• receive a first signal encoding data representative of a first toggling request from the ground station and responsively cause the video stream without annotations to be transmitted to the ground station.

One or more non-transitory computer readable media having stored thereon program instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to:

• determine a capability of a ground station in communication with the UAV to annotate a video stream captured by one or more camera sensors of the UAV;
• and
• in response to the ground station being determined to be capable of annotating the video stream, direct a communications interface of or associated with the UAV to transmit the video stream to the ground station without annotations;
• or
• in response to the ground station being determined to be incapable of annotating the video stream,
• draw annotations on the video stream to generate an annotated video stream;
• encode the annotated video stream to generate an encoded annotated video stream;
• direct the communications interface to transmit the encoded annotated video stream to the ground station;
• and
• receive a first signal encoding data representative of a first toggling request from the ground station and responsively direct the communications interface to switch from transmitting the encoded annotated video stream to transmitting the video stream without annotations to the ground station.

A method of operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having one or more camera sensors, the method comprising:

• capturing video streams using the one or more camera sensors of the UAV, wherein the one or more camera sensors include a plurality of navigational cameras;
• stitching together the video streams from the plurality of navigational cameras to produce an unencoded stitched video stream;
• determining a capability of a ground station communicably coupled to the UAV to annotate the unencoded stitched video stream;
• and
• in response to determining that the ground station is capable to annotate the unencoded stitched video stream, transmitting the unencoded stitched video stream to the ground station without annotations;
• and
• in response to determining that the ground station is incapable to annotate the unencoded stitched video stream,
• drawing annotations on the unencoded stitched video stream to generate an annotated unencoded stitched video stream;
• and
• transmitting the annotated unencoded stitched video stream to the ground station.