Back to results
US 2018/0002017 A1Published application
Vision Based Calibration System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
AssigneeZipline International Inc.
InventorsPeter Abeles, Keenan Wyrobek
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An unmanned aircraft system includes a testing and calibration system that enables automated testing of movable parts of an unmanned aircraft. The testing and calibration system uses a camera-based technique to determine the position and angle of movable parts, in order to establish whether or not those parts are moving in a manner consistent with correct function.
Claims23
An automated calibration system, comprising:
- a camera configured to be positioned relative to a vehicle such that a base fiducial and a movable fiducial on the vehicle are visible within a field of view of the camera;
- and
- and a testing and calibration computer configured to:
- receive an image of the base fiducial and the movable fiducial from the camera, the image comprising image data;
- determine a relative orientation between the base fiducial and the movable fiducial based on the image data;
- determine a real position of a movable part of the vehicle based on the relative orientation between the base fiducial and the movable fiducial, and a position of a base surface of the vehicle;
- compare the real position of the movable part to a reported position for the movable part;
- and
- generate a notification if a difference between the real position and the reported position is greater than a threshold amount.
6 more elements
A method for automated calibration, comprising:
- capturing, with a camera, an image of a base fiducial and a movable fiducial, the image comprising image data;
- determining a relative orientation between the base fiducial and the movable fiducial based on the image data;
- determining a real position of a movable part of a vehicle based on the relative orientation between the base fiducial and the movable fiducial, and a position of a base surface of the vehicle;
- comparing the real position of the movable part to a reported position for the movable part;
- and
- generating a notification if a difference between the real position and the reported position is greater than a threshold amount.
3 more elements
A method for predicting failures in a movable part of a vehicle, comprising:
- a data collection process, the data collection process comprising:
- capturing, with a camera, an image of a base fiducial affixed to a surface of the vehicle adjacent to the movable part and a movable fiducial affixed to the movable part, the image comprising image data;
- determining a relative orientation between the base fiducial and the movable fiducial based on the image data;
- determining a real position of a movable part of a vehicle based on the relative orientation between the fiducials and a known real position of a base surface of the vehicle;
- and
- generating an actuator variance based on a difference between the real position of the movable part and a reported position for the movable part;
- a model development process comprising:
- executing the data collection process a plurality of times over a period of time for the movable part of the vehicle and storing a plurality of actuator variances generated by the data collection process over the period of time;
- observing a failure in the movable part;
- and
- developing a predictive model based on the stored plurality of actuator variances;
- and
- a diagnostic process comprising:
- executing the data collection process a second plurality of times for a second movable part of a second vehicle over a second period of time and storing a second plurality of actuator variances generated by the data collection process over the second period of time;
- applying the predictive model to the second plurality of actuator variances;
- and
- generating a notification based on the output of the predictive model.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.