US 9,542,850 B2Granted

Secure communications with unmanned aerial vehicles

AssigneeVerizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

InventorsIgor Kantor, Ashok N. Srivastava, Douglas M. Pasko, Hani Batla, Gurpreet Ubhi

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Abstract

A device receives a request for a flight path for a UAV to travel from a first location to a second location, and determines, based on credentials of the UAV, whether the UAV is authenticated for utilizing the device. The device determines, when the UAV is authenticated, capability information for the UAV based on component information of the UAV, and calculates the flight path. The device determines whether the UAV is capable of traversing the flight path based on the capability information, and generates, when the UAV is capable of traversing the flight path, flight path instructions for the flight path. The device provides the flight path instructions and credentials of the device to the UAV to permit the UAV to travel from the first location to the second location when the UAV authenticates the device based on the credentials of the device.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device, a request for a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle to travel from a first geographical location to a second geographical location in a region,
the request including credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle and component information associated with components of the unmanned aerial vehicle;
determining, by the device and based on the credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated for utilizing the device;
determining, by the device and when the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated, a flight time for the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the component information;
calculating, by the device, the flight path from the first geographical location to the second geographical location;
determining, by the device, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path based on the flight time;
generating, by the device and when the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path, flight path instructions for the flight path;
and
providing, by the device, the flight path instructions and credentials associated with the device to the unmanned aerial vehicle to permit the unmanned aerial vehicle to:
authenticate the device based on the credentials associated with the device, and
travel from the first geographical location to the second geographical location, based on the flight path instructions.

8 more elements

A system, comprising:

one or more devices to:
receive a request for a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle to travel from a first geographical location to a second geographical location in a region,
the request including credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
determine, based on the credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated for utilizing the system;
determine, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated, a flight time for the unmanned aerial vehicle based on component information associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
calculate the flight path from the first geographical location to the second geographical location based on one or more of weather information, air traffic information, obstacle information, or regulatory information associated with the region;
determine whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path based on the flight time;
generate, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path, flight path instructions for the flight path;
and
provide the flight path instructions and credentials associated with the system to the unmanned aerial vehicle to permit the unmanned aerial vehicle to one of:
reject the flight path instructions when the unmanned aerial vehicle fails to authenticate the system based on the credentials associated with the system, or
accept the flight path instructions and travel from the first geographical location to the second geographical location, based on the flight path instructions, when the unmanned aerial vehicle authenticates the system based on the credentials associated with the system.

9 more elements

A computer-readable medium for storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a request for a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle to travel from a first geographical location to a second geographical location;
determine, based on credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated for utilizing the device;
determine, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is authenticated, a flight time for the unmanned aerial vehicle based on component information associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
calculate the flight path from the first geographical location to the second geographical location;
determine whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path based on the flight time;
generate, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing the flight path, flight path instructions for the flight path;
and
provide the flight path instructions and credentials associated with the device to the unmanned aerial vehicle to permit the unmanned aerial vehicle to one of:
reject the flight path instructions when the unmanned aerial vehicle fails to authenticate the device based on the credentials associated with the device, or
accept the flight path instructions and travel from the first geographical location to the second geographical location, based on the flight path instructions, when the unmanned aerial vehicle authenticates the device based on the credentials associated with the device.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.