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US 2019/0101921 A1Published application
Using unmanned aerial vehicles to provide ground control points for aerial survey
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorNoel W. Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flies to a location of a ground control point, and provides a mark for imaging by an aerial vehicle. The UAV remains at the ground control point and collects GNSS data to localize the point. The ground control point may be marked on the ground by the UAV, or it may be on an upper surface of the UAV that is visible by the aerial vehicle.
Claims20
A method of controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
- controlling a propulsion system of the UAV to fly the UAV to a ground control point location at a worksite;
- collecting global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data with a GNSS receiver on the UAV, the GNSS data corresponding to the ground control point location;
- controlling the UAV to generate a ground control point mark corresponding to the ground control point location;
- and
- controlling movement of the UAV so the ground control point mark is visible to an aerial imaging vehicle.
2 more elements
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
- a propulsion system;
- a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver;
- a visual mark generator;
- and
- a control system that receives a ground control point location, controls the propulsion system to fly the UAV to a ground control point at the ground control point location at a worksite, collect global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data with the GNSS receiver on the UAV, corresponding to the ground control point location and to generate a ground control point mark, with the visual mark generator, corresponding to the ground control point location.
2 more elements
A method of establishing a set of ground control points at a worksite, the method comprising:
- flying each of a plurality of different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to a different, corresponding ground control point in the set of ground control points;
- controlling movement of each of the plurality of different UAVs to remain at the corresponding ground control point until an aerial imaging vehicle captures an aerial image that includes the UAV at the corresponding ground control point;
- and collecting global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data with a GNSS receiver mounted on each of the UAVs, the GNSS data collected by each GNSS receiver identifying the ground control point corresponding to the UAV on which the GNSS receiver is mounted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.