# US 2019/0172348 A1 · Unmanned aerial system assisted navigational systems and methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0172348 A1 - Document ID: US20190172348A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/273,011 - Filed: 2019-02-11 - Published: 2019-06-06 - Earliest claimed: 2016-09-02 - Assignees: FLIR Belgium BVBA - Applicants: FLIR Belgium BVBA - Inventors: Mark Rivers; Christopher D. Gatland; Cenk Tugcetin; Chris Jones; Adam Murphy - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190172348A1 ## CPC - G08G 1/0968: Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle - B64U 10/13: Flying platforms - B64U 80/84: Waterborne vehicles - G05D 1/0027: {involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00)} - G05D 1/0094: {involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target} - G05D 1/101: {specially adapted for aircraft} - G06F 3/00: Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements - G08G 3/00: Traffic control systems for marine craft (marking of navigational route B63B22/16, B63B51/00) - G08G 5/26: Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations - G08G 5/53: for cruising - G08G 5/54: for approach or landing - G08G 5/55: for a single aircraft - G08G 5/56: for two or more aircraft - G08G 5/57: for unmanned aircraft - G08G 5/58: for emergency situations, e.g. hijacking or bird strikes - G08G 5/59: in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones - G08G 5/723: {from the aircraft} - G08G 5/74: for monitoring terrain - G08G 7/00: Traffic control systems for simultaneous control of two or more different kinds of craft - B64U 80/86: Land vehicles - B64U 2201/00: UAVs characterised by their flight controls - B64U 2201/10: autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] - B64U 2201/104: using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - B64U: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Flight based infrared imaging systems and related techniques, and in particular unmanned aerial system (UAS) based systems, are provided for aiding in operation and/or piloting of a mobile structure. Such systems and techniques may include determining environmental conditions around the mobile structure with the UAS detecting the presence of objects and/or persons around the mobile structure and/or determining the presence of other structures around the mobile structure. Instructions for the operation of such mobile structures may then be accordingly determined responsive to such data. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus comprising: a logic device associated with a mobile structure and configured to communicate with an imaging device, wherein the logic device is configured to: receive unmanned aerial systems (UAS) data from one or more UASs associated with the mobile structure, wherein at least a portion of the UAS data comprises data associated with a thermal camera coupled to the one or more UASs; determine one or more environmental conditions based, at least in part, on the UAS data; and generate an environmental condition determination based, at least in part, on the UAS data and/or the determined one or more environmental conditions. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: determine instructions associated with landing at least one of the UASs on the mobile structure; and provide the determined instructions to the at least one UAS. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the UAS data is associated with one or more of: at least one of the one or more environmental conditions, wherein the at least one environmental condition is associated with an environment local to the mobile structure; a sway of the mobile structure; a velocity of the mobile structure; and a position of a UAS cradle on the mobile structure, wherein: the determining the instructions associated with landing the at least one UAS on the mobile structure comprises determining an orientation of the UAS cradle and matching an orientation of the at least one UAS to the orientation of the UAS cradle; and the determined instructions are based, at least in part, on the UAS data and/or on a position of a UAS cradle on the mobile structure. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: determine a mobile structure route based, at least in part, on the one or more environmental conditions; and communicate instructions for monitoring at least a portion of the mobile structure route to the at least one UAS. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: determine a presence and/or location of an object within an environment local to the mobile structure based, at least in part, on the UAS data; and communicate instructions to the one or more UASs to monitor a portion of the environment local to the mobile structure for the presence and/or location of the object, wherein the portion of the environment is determined based, at least in part, on the environmental condition determination, and wherein the generated environmental condition determination is associated with water current conditions and/or water temperature conditions. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to determine and communicate positioning instructions to the one or more UASs, and wherein the positioning instructions are determined based, at least in part, on a velocity of the mobile structure. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to communicate, to the one or more UASs, instructions to image at least a sail, a body structure, or a portion of the mobile structure, and wherein the UAS data comprises the image. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: determine a distance between the mobile structure and at least one of the one or more UASs; determine a traversal range of the at least one UAS is less than the distance between the mobile structure and the at least one UAS; identify a second mobile structure within the traversal range of the at least one UAS; and direct the at least one UAS to travel to and/or land upon the second mobile structure. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a user interface comprising a display, wherein the one or more UASs comprises a plurality of UASs, and wherein the logic device is further configured to: display at least a portion of the UAS data received from the plurality of UASs on the user interface. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: receive maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for the one or more UASs from a shore base; and transmit the received maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions to the one or more UASs. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic device is further configured to: receive one or more search patterns from a user interface of the apparatus and/or from a shore base; generate and/or transmit maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for the one or more UASs based on the received one or more search patterns; and monitor the UAS data received from the one or more UASs as they traverse the one or more search patterns. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more UASs comprises first and second UASs, and wherein the logic device is further configured to: receive a range warning from the first UAS indicating that it lacks traversal capacity to complete an assigned search pattern; transmit a return control signal to the first UAS to return to the mobile structure; and generate and/or transmit maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for the second UAS to complete the assigned search pattern. ### Claim 13 A method comprising: receiving unmanned aerial systems (UAS) data from one or more UASs associated with a mobile structure, wherein at least a portion of the UAS data comprises data associated with a thermal camera coupled to the one or more UASs; determining one or more environmental conditions based, at least in part, on the UAS data; and generating an environmental condition determination based, at least in part, on the UAS data and/or the determined one or more environmental conditions. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining instructions associated with landing at least one of the one or more UASs on the mobile structure; and providing the determined instructions to the at least one UAS, wherein the UAS data is associated with one or more of: at least one of the one or more environmental conditions, wherein the at least one environmental condition is associated with an environment local to the mobile structure; a sway of the mobile structure; a velocity of the mobile structure; and a position of a UAS cradle on the mobile structure, wherein: the determining the instructions associated with landing the at least one UAS on the mobile structure comprises determining an orientation of the UAS cradle and matching an orientation of the at least one UAS to the orientation of the UAS cradle; and the determined instructions are based, at least in part, on the UAS data and/or on a position of a UAS cradle on the mobile structure. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining a mobile structure route based, at least in part, on the one or more environmental conditions, wherein the mobile route comprises a plurality of race waypoints; communicating instructions for monitoring at least a portion of the mobile structure route to the one or more UASs; and determining a quickest route based, at least in part, on the UAS data and the plurality of race waypoints. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining a distance between the mobile structure and at least one of the one or more UASs; determining a traversal range of the at least one UAS is less than the distance between the mobile structure and the at least one UAS; identifying a second mobile structure within the traversal range of the at least one UAS; and directing the at least one UAS to travel to and/or land upon the second mobile structure. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more UASs comprises a plurality of UASs, the method further comprising: displaying at least a portion of the UAS data received from the plurality of UASs on a display of a user interface. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for the one or more UASs from a shore base; and transmitting the received maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions to the one or more UASs. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving one or more search patterns from a user interface and/or from a shore base; generating and/or transmitting maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for the one or more UASs based on the received one or more search patterns; and monitoring the UAS data received from the one or more UASs as they traverse the one or more search patterns. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving a range warning from a first UAS of the one or more UASs indicating that it lacks traversal capacity to complete an assigned search pattern; transmitting a return control signal to the first UAS to return to the mobile structure; and generating and/or transmitting maneuvering and/or monitoring instructions for a second UAS of the one or more UASs to complete the assigned search pattern.