System and method for safety enhancement of stationary drone mission operations
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorRobert J. Hall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device having a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations including: receiving a path of a threat vehicle; calculating a closest approach distance based on a current position of a drone and the path of the threat vehicle; determining that the closest approach distance is within a threshold; and sending a command to the drone to descend to a safe altitude. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Claims20
A device, comprising:
- a processing system including a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- determining, based on received information describing one or more threat vehicles, that a threat condition exists for a drone, the drone having a settable current target waypoint to which the drone is configured to navigate;
- based on the determining that the threat condition exists, storing a current position of the drone as a saved waypoint of the drone, setting the current target waypoint of the drone to a safe-altitude location, and preventing execution of user commands that would change the current target waypoint while the threat condition exists;
- determining, based on updated information describing the one or more threat vehicles, that the threat condition no longer exists;
- and
- based on the determining that the threat condition no longer exists, setting the current target waypoint equal to the saved waypoint.
A non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- determining, based on received information describing one or more threat vehicles, that a threat condition exists for a drone, the drone having a settable current target waypoint to which the drone is configured to navigate;
- based on the determining that the threat condition exists, storing a current position of the drone as a saved waypoint of the drone, setting the current target waypoint of the drone to a safe-altitude location, and preventing execution of user commands that would change the current target waypoint while the threat condition exists;
- determining, based on updated information describing the one or more threat vehicles, that the threat condition no longer exists;
- and
- based on the determining that the threat condition no longer exists, setting the current target waypoint equal to the saved waypoint.
A method, comprising:
- determining, by a processing system including a processor, based on received information describing one or more threat vehicles, that a threat condition exists for a drone operating under waypoint-based navigation;
- while the threat condition exists, enforcing, by the processing system, a restricted command state in which:
- a current target waypoint of the drone is constrained to a safe-altitude location;
- and
- user commands received during the threat condition are selectively blocked, deferred, or conditionally recorded based on a command type;
- and
- maintaining the drone at the safe-altitude location until updated information describing the one or more threat vehicles indicates that the threat condition has cleared.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.