Conceptio › Archive › Google Patents

Google Patentsopen access

Drone with wide frontal field of view — Performance Drone Works Llc (US11307583B2)

Performance Drone Works Llc · Google Patents

Google Patents · Patents · License: Open Access

patent, google patents, intellectual property, US11307583B2, Performance Drone Works Llc, Ryan Gury, en, 2022

ABSTRACT

Abstract

A drone includes a frame and a plurality of motors attached to the frame. Each motor of the plurality of motors is connected to a respective propeller located below the frame. A tail motor is attached to the frame. The tail motor is connected to a tail propeller located above the frame. Cameras are attached to the frame and located above the frame. The cameras have fields of view extending over the plurality of propellers.

Description

BACKGROUND

Radio controlled unmanned aircraft (e.g. drones, such as quadcopters) can move at high speed and make rapid changes in direction when remotely piloted by a skilled user. In drone racing, users race their respective drones around a course using remote-controls to maneuver around the course (e.g. through gates, around obstacles, etc.). A camera view from a drone may be relayed to a user to allow a First Person View (FPV) so that the user can see where the drone is going and steer it accordingly in the manner of a pilot sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft.

A drone may include a flight controller that provides output to motors and thus controls propeller speed to change thrust. For example, a quadcopter has four motors, each coupled to a corresponding propeller above the motor, with propellers mounted to generate thrust substantially in parallel (e.g. their axes of rotation may be substantially parallel). The flight controller may change speeds of the motors to change the orientation and velocity of the drone and the propellers may remain in a fixed orientation (i.e. without changing the angle of thrust with respect to the quadcopter) and may have fixed-pitch (i.e. propeller pitch may not be adjustable like a helicopter propeller so that each motor powers a corresponding fixed-pitch propeller in a fixed orientation with respect to a drone chassis). The flight controller may be directed by commands received from the user's remote-control and may generate outputs to motors to execute the commands.

SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a course and a drone moving along a path (flightpath) through the course.

FIG. 2 is simplified representation of some of the components for one embodiment of a quadcopter.

FIG. 3A shows an example of an autonomous quadcopter.

FIG. 3B shows an example of an autonomous quadcopter with propellers.

FIG. 4A-B show another example of an autonomous quadcopter.

FIGS. 5A-B illustrate cameras obscured by overhanging propellers.

FIG. 6 illustrates orientation of an aircraft.

FIG. 7 illustrates a camera obscured by a propeller in flight.

FIGS. 8A-B illustrate an example of a camera located above a propeller.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of asymmetric motor and propeller locations for a quadcopter.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a drone with an asymmetric frame that is suitable for implementing the configuration of FIG. 9 .

FIG. 11 shows a front-on view of cameras mounted on the drone of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 12 shows a cross sectional view of the drone of FIGS. 10-11 .

FIGS. 13A-E illustrate an example of an asymmetric quadcopter with two stereoscopic cameras.

FIGS. 14A-B illustrate an example of a drone with fairing.

FIG. 15 shows an example of an AI controller in an autonomous drone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following presents a systems and methods associated with drones. In an example, a drone is formed as an asymmetric quadcopter with a triangular nose section that has three motors mounted underneath so that their propellers are below the motors (and below a frame or chassis). Motors are mounted at or near vertices of the triangle of the triangular portion. A tail motor is attached to a tail portion. The tail motor may be mounted on top of the frame with the propeller above the motor and frame (i.e. the opposite to the other three motors). Cameras located above the propellers (e.g. attached to an upper surface of the frame) look ahead over the propellers (not under them). In this configuration, when the drone flies nose-down, e.g. for high speed and/or acceleration, the cameras maintain a clear view ahead that is unobscured by the propellers. This configuration may be suitable for high speed drones such as racing drones, particularly drones that may benefit from accurate visual information about the pathway ahead (e.g. an autonomous racing drones that use computer vision components coupled to an AI controller to fly in races). One stereoscopic camera (including two cameras a distance apart) may be placed on either side of the drone (e.g. along leading edges of the triangular nose portion. Stereoscopic views of these cameras may overlap ahead of the drone so that there is detailed information about this area from different sources.

An AI controller may use Computer Vision (CV) based on multiple cameras (e.g. two, four or six cameras configured as one, two or three stereoscopic cameras) to pilot a drone based on visual input from the environment, determining the flightpath in real time rather than flying along a predetermined flightpath. A drone equipped with such an AI controller may be an autonomous drone that does not require human input to fly around a course (e.g. a race course). The AI controller may be coupled to other drone components (e.g. flight controller) through a connector so that the AI controller is removable from the drone, allowing the drone to be configured for remote-control (without the AI controller) and for autonomous flight (with the AI controller). The drone may also be switchable between autonomous and remote-control modes without physically removing the AI controller (e.g. a remote-control may send a command to change from autonomous mode to remote-control mode during flight).

Although the following description is primarily given the context of drones (e.g. quadcopters) moving along a three-dimensional flightpath through a course (e.g. a racecourse where drones compete to go around the racecourse and reach a finish line by selecting the fastest flightpath), certain concepts presented can be applied more generally. For example, the systems and techniques can be applied to non-drone aircraft or other objects that serve as a mobile source of the described signals as it moves along a three-dimensional path.

FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a course and a drone moving along a path through the course. From the start location, the course passes through the gates G 1 -G 6 111 - 116 sequentially and then through an end gate EG 117 to arrive at the finish location. The drone 101 is shown moving along the path through the series of gates. A set of control transceivers cTx 1 - 4 151 - 154 cover the region that includes the course to supply control signals to drones on the course and also receive data back from the drones so that users, using remote-controls, may fly their drones and may see video from a camera on their drone (FPV). Although the start and finish of the course shown FIG. 1A are shown as near each other, this need not be so in general. Similarly, although the course is shown defined by a series of frame-like gates, pylons or other structures can be used to specify a course or path. While drone racing provides one area in which the present technology may be used, the present technology is not limited to racing and may be used to operate a variety of drones and other autonomous craft in a variety of environments.

FIG. 2 is simplified representation of some of the components for one example of a drone 201 , which is a remote-controlled quadcopter in this example. FIG. 2 shows flight controller 211 connected to motors 217 a - d (which turn respective propellers, not shown in this view), the voltage source and regulator 213 , wireless receiver 215 , video camera 231 and altitude sensor 233 , and the transmitters

225 and 227 . In this embodiment, extending on an arm from each of the corners of the drone is a motor 217 a - d , each of which is controlled by the flight controller 211 to thereby control thrust generated by propellers attached to motors 217 a - d . A voltage source (e.g. battery) and regulator 213 supplies power. A pilot's commands are transmitted from control signal transceivers such as cTx 223 , received by wireless receiver 215 . Control signal transceiver cTx 223 may be in a remote-control operated by a pilot (remote-control user) to fly drone 201 The flight controller 211 uses power from the voltage source 213 to drive the motors 217 a - d according to the pilot's signals.

The drone also includes video camera 231 and altitude sensor 233 that supply data to the flight controller 211 . An FM or other type video transmitter 225 transmits data from the video camera 231 to a video monitor receiver vRx 221 (external to the drone, such as on the ground) that monitors the video signals and passes on the video data to the pilot. Data can also be sent back to the control signal transceiver cTx 223 by the transmitter 227 . Although the transmitter 227 and wireless receiver 215 are shown as separate elements in FIG. 2 , in many embodiments these will be part of a single transceiver module (e.g. a remote-control may include both a control signal transceiver and a video monitor receiver to allow a remote-control user to see video from video camera 231 while piloting drone 201 ).

FIG. 3A shows an example of an autonomous drone 301 (autonomous quadcopter in this example), which is different to drone 201 in that it is configured for autonomous operation, instead of, or in addition to receiving commands from a remote user. For example, autonomous drone 301 may fly around a course such as illustrated in FIG. 1 , maneuvering through gates, around obstacles, etc. without commands from a remote user. Instead of receiving commands via RF communication from a remote-control, when in autonomous mode, autonomous drone 301 may operate according to commands generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) controller 330 , which is coupled to the flight controller 211 (components of autonomous drone 301 that are common to drone 201 are similarly labeled). In this arrangement, AI controller 330 selects a flightpath and generates commands according to the same command set used by a remote-control. Thus, remote unit 332 may send commands to flight controller 211 according to a predetermined command set when autonomous drone 301 is in a remote-control mode. AI controller 330 may send commands to flight controller 211 according to the same predetermined command set when autonomous drone 301 is in an autonomous mode. In this way, flight controller 211 may operate similarly in both remote-control mode and autonomous modes and does not require reconfiguration. This allows drones developed for remote-control to be easily adapted for autonomous operation, thus taking advantage of preexisting components and shortening development time for autonomous quadcopter development.

In an example, <figure-callout id="330" label="AI c

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a course and a drone moving along a path (flightpath) through the course.

FIG. 2 is simplified representation of some of the components for one embodiment of a quadcopter.

FIG. 3A shows an example of an autonomous quadcopter.

FIG. 3B shows an example of an autonomous quadcopter with propellers.

FIG. 4A-B show another example of an autonomous quadcopter.

FIGS. 5A-B illustrate cameras obscured by overhanging propellers.

FIG. 6 illustrates orientation of an aircraft.

FIG. 7 illustrates a camera obscured by a propeller in flight.

FIGS. 8A-B illustrate an example of a camera located above a propeller.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of asymmetric motor and propeller locations for a quadcopter.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a drone with an asymmetric frame that is suitable for implementing the configuration of FIG. 9 .

FIG. 11 shows a front-on view of cameras mounted on the drone of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 12 shows a cross sectional view of the drone of FIGS. 10-11 .

FIGS. 13A-E illustrate an example of an asymmetric quadcopter with two stereoscopic cameras.

FIGS. 14A-B illustrate an example of a drone with fairing.

FIG. 15 shows an example of an AI controller in an autonomous drone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In an example, AI controller 330 may be implemented in an AI module that may be considered as a bolt-on component that may be added to a fully-functional drone (e.g. instead of, or in addition to a remote-control). For example, AI controller 330 may be implemented by a controller module, such as an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier module, which includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), memory (e.g. volatile memory such as DRAM or SRAM), data storage (e.g. non-volatile data storage such as flash), and Vision accelerator. Other suitable controller hardware may also be used. The AI controller 330 may be connected to flight controller 211 and other quadcopter components through a physical connector to allow it to be connected/disconnected for configuration for AI control/remote-control. AI controller 330 may be physically attached to autonomous drone 301 by being clipped on, bolted on, or otherwise attached (e.g. to the chassis of drone 301 ) in a manner that makes physical removal easy.

While a human pilot may fly a drone based on video sent to the pilot from the drone, an AI pilot, such as embodied in AI controller 330 may pilot a drone based on different input including sensor input and/or input from multiple cameras (e.g. using Computer Vision (CV) to identify and locate features in its environment). While human pilots generally rely on a single camera to provide a single view (first person view, or âFPVâ), an AI pilot may use a plurality of cameras that cover different areas (e.g. a wider field of view, more than 180 degrees and as much as 360 degrees). In an example, cameras may be arranged in pairs, with a pair of cameras having overlapping fields of view. This allows such a pair of cameras to form a stereoscopic camera so that depth of field information may be extracted by a CV unit. FIG. 3A illustrates an example of camera 334 a and camera 334 b , which are arranged with overlapping fields of view to form a stereoscopic camera 334 . Similarly, cameras

336 a and 336 b form stereoscopic camera 336 and cameras

338 a and 338 b form stereoscopic camera 338 . It will be understood that the orientations (different angles corresponding to different views) and locations of cameras shown in FIG. 3A are illustrative and that the number, location, arrangement, and pairing of such cameras may be varied according to requirements (e.g. more than three stereoscopic cameras may be used). In the example of FIG. 3A , video outputs of all cameras, 334 a , 334 b , 336 a , 336 b , 338 a , and 338 b (and any other cameras) are sent to AI controller 330 . While one or more video output may be transmitted to an external location (e.g. transmitted by transmitter/ receiver 340 to remote unit 332 ), in some cases no such transmission is performed when autonomous drone 301 is in autonomous mode. In some cases, an autonomous drone such as autonomous drone 301 is configurable to receive commands from a remote-control such as remote unit 332 (e.g. may be remote-controlled at certain times, e.g. according to selection by a remote user) through a communication circuit. These commands may use the same command set so that commands from AI controller 330 and remote unit 332 are interchangeable. Transmitter/ receiver 340 may be considered an example of a Radio Frequency (RF) communication circuit coupled to the flight controller 211 , the RF communication circuit (e.g. RF receiver) is configured to receive external commands from a remote-control (e.g. remote unit 332 ) and provide the external commands to the flight controller 211 to direct the flight controller to follow a remotely-selected flightpath, the external commands and the commands provided by the AI controller 330 from a common command set.

AI controller 330 includes computer vision (CV) capability to interpret input from

cameras

334 a , 334 b , 336 a , 336 b , 338 a , and 338 b to gain information about the environment around drone 301 (e.g. object identification and location).

Stereoscopic cameras

334 , 336 , 338 are configured to obtain different stereoscopic views to allow depth of field analysis so that the proximity of objects (including racecourse features such as gates, drones, and other racecourse features) may be accurately determined. AI controller 330 may use CV capability to generate a three-dimensional (3-D) picture of the surrounding of autonomous drone 301 , or a portion of the surroundings (e.g. generally ahead of autonomous drone 301 along its direction of travel). In some cases, multiple cameras may be used to collectively provide a full 360-degree field of view. In other cases, cameras may cover less than 360 degrees but may still collectively cover a larger field of view than a human pilot could effectively monitor. Video output from

cameras

334 a , 334 b , 336 a , 336 b , 338 a , and 338 b may be directly provided to AI controller 330 without conversion to RF and transmission as used by remote-controlled drones (e.g. remote-controlled quadcopters). This may allow rapid reaction as drone 301 moves and video output reflects changing surroundings (e.g. reduced latency may allow faster response than with remote-control).

AI controller 330 is coupled to the plurality of

cameras

334 a , 334 b , 336 a , 336 b , 338 a , and 338 b to receive input from the plurality of cameras, determine a flightpath for the autonomous quadcopter (e.g. drone 301 ) according to the input from the plurality of cameras, and provide commands to the flight controller 211 to direct the flight controller 211 to follow the flightpath. Thus, the role of flight controller 211 is to execute commands from AI controller 330 (as it would from a remote-control user), while AI controller makes piloting decisions based on video input (and, in some cases, other input, e.g. from sensors). AI controller 330 may be considered an example of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) controller coupled to a plurality of cameras ( e.g. cameras

334 , 336 , 338 ) to receive input from the plurality of cameras, determine a flightpath for the autonomous quadcopter 301 according to the input from the plurality of cameras, and provide commands to the flight controller 211 to direct the flight controller to follow the flightpath. Flight controller 211 is coupled to the four motors 217 a - d to provide input to the four motors to control flight of the autonomous quadcopter 301 .

In addition to

cameras

334 a , 334 b , 336 a , 336 b , 338 a , and 338 b , autonomous drone 301 includes Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors 342 and rangefinder 344 . IMU sensors 342 may measure one or more of specific force, angular rate, and magnetic field using a combination of accelerometers (acceleration sensors), gyroscopes (gyroscopic sensors), and magnetometers to generate motion data (e.g. autonomous quadcopter motion data). For example, IMU sensors 342 may be used as a gyroscope and accelerometer to obtain orientation and acceleration measurements. Rangefinder 344 (which may be considered a distance or range sensor) measures the distance from autonomous drone 301 to an external feature (e.g. the ground, obstacle or gate along a racecourse, etc.) Rangefinder 344 may use a laser to determine distance (e.g. pulsed laser, or Light Detection and Ranging âLiDARâ). Outputs from sensors

342 and 344 are provided to AI controller 330 in this example. Outputs from such sensors may also be provided to a flight controller (e.g. flight controller 211 ) in some cases. In addition to the sensors illustrated, an autonomous drone may include other sensors such as a barometer, or altimeter, to determine height of a drone above ground, and/or LIDAR sensors using lasers to generate 3-D representations of surroundings. In some cases, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module may be provided to provide position information based on communication with GPS satellites.

AI controller 330 may be in the form of a removable module that is added to a drone to provide capacity for autonomous operation. Within AI controller 330 , certain modules may be provided with different functions. In an example, different AI technologies may be compared side-by-side by loading AI controllers with different AI code and flying drones using the different AI code (e.g. in a race) to compare AI technologies. In such an example, certain basic functions of AI controller 330 may be provided by standard modules that are common to multiple AI controllers while other functions may be customized by a particular module, or modules, that are then compared by flying drones with identical drone hardware, AI controller hardware, and some identical modules within AI controllers provide a comparison of AI technologies without effects of different hardware and/or software differences unrelated to AI piloting. According to an example, autonomous drone racing uses different AI technologies in identical autonomous drones. This eliminates hardware differences. Certain common software may be provided in standard AI controllers to provide a common platform (common hardware and software elements) that accommodates different AI technologies and allows them to compete on an equal footing. This provides development teams with an opportunity to focus on core technology, reduces cost, and reduces development time. Racing drones around complex courses provides comparison between different candidate AI technologies and can identify winning candidates for further development. This provides valuable information, reduces wasted resources on unpromising technologies, and rapid identification of winning technologies reduces overall development time and cost. Examples of autonomous drones, including autonomous quadcopters are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/360,999, filed on Mar. 21, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In order for computer vision cameras to provide accurate real-time input for autonomous flight, the cameras generally need to have a clear view of objects around a drone, particularly ahead of the drone, so that the drone does not collide with any object. In some cases, the field of view of one or more cameras may be obscured by one or more propellers, which may be detrimental in one or more ways, e.g. visual information may be reduced, computer vision may be impaired, and/or autonomous flight control may be impacted.

FIG. 3B shows an example arrangement of propellers of quadcopter 301 in a top-down perspective. Propellers 350 a - d are shown by circles (outlined by dashed lines) that indicate the areas swept by the propellers. Where propellers 350 a - d are mounted above the frame of quadcopter 301 , the propellers may obscure upper portions of the fields of view of one or more camera, which may have an impact on autonomous flight, particularly high-speed flight such as during a drone race.

FIG. 4A shows autonomous drone 2000 from the front with an AI controller 508 mounted on top of a frame 2202 (chassis) that extends along a horizontal plane. Motors

2204 , 2206 and corresponding propellers

2208 , 2210 are mounted on top of frame 2202 (e.g. attached to an upper surface of frame 2202 ) so that propellers are above the plane of frame 2202 . Propellers spin in a plane that is parallel to (or substantially parallel to) the plane of frame 2202 (i.e. axes of motors

2204 , 2206 are perpendicular, or substantially perpendicular, to frame 2202 ). Motors

2204 , 2206 correspond to two of four motors 2014 of drone 2000 (the other two motors are not visible in this view and are shown in FIG. 4B ). All such motors may be mounted in a fixed manner so that their direction of thrust is always perpendicular to the plane of frame 2202 (downwards in FIG. 4A ).

Six cameras are mounted on the bottom of frame 2202 (attached to a lower surface of frame 2202 ). Cameras are arranged in pairs to form stereoscopic cameras. Thus, cameras

2212 a and 2212 b form a first stereoscopic camera looking down and forward of autonomous quadcopter 2000 . Cameras

2214 a and 2214 b form a second stereoscopic camera looking forward and to the right of autonomous quadcopter 2000 (to the left in the view of FIG. 22A ). Cameras

2216 a and 2216 b form a third stereoscopic camera looking forward and to the left of autonomous quadcopter 2000 (to the right in the view of FIG. 22A ).

FIG. 4B shows a bottom-up view of autonomous drone 2000 including

cameras

2212 a , 2212 b , 2214 a , 2214 b , 2216 a , 2216 b mounted to the underside of frame 2202 . In this example, the fields of view of cameras

2212 a , 2212 b may be limited by propellers

2210 and 2208 and their respective propeller guards (portions of frame 2202 that extend to protect propellers. For example, cameras

2212 a , 2212 b may be unable to see effectively above the plane of frame 2202 . Even without a propeller guard, the propellers may cause significant obscuring of a camera's view so that simply removing propeller guards may not be an ideal solution.

FIG. 5A shows a first example of a camera 550 attached to a lower surface of drone frame 552 . Propeller 554 is coupled to motor 556 and is located above frame 552 . In this configuration, the field of view of camera 550 is obscured. A portion of frame 552 and motor 556 extend into the field of view and may completely obscure a portion of the field of view. A portion of propeller 554 also obscures (at least partially) a portion of the field of view as it spins so that the field of view includes an obscured portion 558 (shaded) and an unobscured portion 560 . Addition of a propeller guard (e.g. by extending frame 552 ) would generally increase the size of obscured portion 558 and/or change a partially obscured area to a fully obscured area.

Cameras may be attached at different locations to improve their field of view. For example, a camera may be located at the edge of a frame as shown in FIG. 4B . However, in some cases, a frame may not extend beyond a propeller (e.g. where no propeller guard is provided as illustrated in FIG. 5A ) so that even locating a camera at the edge of a frame results in an obscured field of view.

FIG. 5B illustrates another example of locating camera 550 with respect to frame 552 . In this example, camera 550 is located along an edge of frame 552 , under motor 556 . In this arrangement, camera 550 may have a field of view that extends higher (i.e. above the plane of frame 552 . However, even in this configuration, propeller 554 obscures the field of view of camera 550 so that the field of view includes obscured portion 558 and unobscured portion 560 .

While the illustrations of FIGS. 5A and 5B show a drone in a horizontal orientation, with the plane of frame 552 extending horizontally and the plane of rotation of propeller 554 extending horizontally (e.g. parallel to the ground), drones do not always fly in this orientation. While drones may move vertically (e.g. take-off and landing) in a horizontal orientation, orientation may deviate from horizontal during flight. Where propeller pitch is fixed and propeller orientation with respect to a frame is fixed (as in the case of many drones), lateral movement may be achieved by controlling power to different propellers to change the angle of the drone so that some of the thrust from the propellers is used for forward motion. To describe changing orientation, the terms pitch, roll, and yaw, which are common in the aircraft sector, may be used for a drone.

FIG. 6 illustrated pitch, roll, and yaw of an aircraft 662 that has a centerline 664 (roll axis) extending from the nose to the tail (through the fuselage). Rotation of aircraft 662 about <figure-callout id="664" label="centerline" filenames="US113

CLAIMS

Claims ( 15 )

The invention claimed is:

1. A drone comprising:

a frame;

a plurality of motors attached to the frame, each motor of the plurality of motors connected to a respective propeller of a plurality of propellers located below the motor and below the frame;

a tail motor attached to the frame, the tail motor connected to a tail propeller located above the frame, the tail propeller and the plurality of propellers having fixed orientations with respect to the frame and with respect to each other;

a plurality of cameras attached to the frame and located above the frame, the plurality of cameras includes at least a left-side stereoscopic camera mounted on the left side of the drone and a right-side stereoscopic camera mounted on the right side of the drone, the plurality of cameras having fields of view extending over the plurality of propellers;

an Artificial Intelligence (AI) controller coupled to the plurality of cameras to receive video input from the plurality of cameras, the AI controller configured to generate flight control commands for autonomous flight according to the video input; and

a protective cage attached to an upper side of the frame, the protective cage extending around the AI controller with openings for cooling airflow.

2. The drone of claim 1 wherein the plurality of motors consists of a nose motor, a left-side motor, and a right-side motor.

3. The drone of claim 2 wherein the tail motor and the nose motor are located along a centerline of the drone and the left-side motor and the right-side motor are located closer to the nose motor than to the tail motor and are equidistant from the centerline.

4. The drone of claim 1 wherein the left-side stereoscopic camera has a field of view ahead and to the left of the drone, the right-side stereoscopic camera has a field of view ahead and to the right of the drone, and the fields of view of the left-side stereoscopic camera and the right-side stereoscopic camera overlap ahead of the drone.

5. The drone of claim 1 further comprising landing gear attached to the frame, the landing gear extending down from the frame to a level below the propellers to maintain a separation between the propellers and a landing/takeoff surface.

6. The drone of claim 1 further comprising a LiDAR device attached to a lower surface of the frame, the LiDAR device directed downwards from the drone.

7. The drone of claim 1 wherein the frame extends from a nose along a centerline to a tail, the frame includes a triangular nose portion that forms an obtuse angle at the nose, a first acute angle on the left side of the centerline, and a second acute angle on the right side of the centerline, and wherein the plurality of motors include a nose motor, a left-side motor, and a right-side motor that are attached at respective corners of the triangular nose portion.

8. The drone of claim 7 wherein the frame includes a central portion, the AI controller attached to the central portion, the protective cage extending above the AI controller and the central portion.

9. The drone of claim 7 wherein the frame includes a tail portion, the tail motor attached to the tail portion at a distance from the left-side motor and the right-side motor that is greater than the distance from the nose motor to the left-side motor and the right-side motor.

10. The drone of claim 1 further including a plurality of legs extending down from the frame to a level below the plurality of propellers.

11. The drone of claim 1 wherein fields of view of the left-side stereoscopic camera and the right-side stereoscopic camera overlap forward of the autonomous quadcopter.

12. The drone of claim 11 wherein the plurality of cameras have fields of view that extend, unobstructed by propellers, up at least 45 degrees from a plane of the frame.

13. The drone of claim 1 further comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) communication circuit, the RF communication circuit configured to receive external commands from a remote-control.

14. The drone of claim 1 further comprising a LiDAR rangefinder coupled to the AI controller, the LiDAR rangefinder configured to determine distance between an object and the drone.

15. The drone of claim 1 further comprising landing gear extending from a lower surface of the frame and extending past the plurality of propellers to maintain clearance between the plurality of propellers and a landing/takeoff surface.

US16/459,556

2019-07-01

Drone with wide frontal field of view

Active

2040-04-05

US11307583B2

( en )

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number

Priority Date

Filing Date

Title

US16/459,556

US11307583B2

( en )

2019-07-01

Drone with wide frontal field of view

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number

Priority Date

Filing Date

Title

US16/459,556

US11307583B2

( en )

2019-07-01

Drone with wide frontal field of view

Publications (2)

Publication Number

Publication Date

US20210004003A1

US20210004003A1 ( en )

2021-01-07

US11307583B2

true

US11307583B2 ( en )

2022-04-19

Family

ID=74065209

Family Applications (1)

Application Number

Title

Priority Date

Filing Date

US16/459,556

Active

2040-04-05

US11307583B2

( en )

2019-07-01

Drone with wide frontal field of view

Country Status (1)

Country

Link

( 1 )

US11307583B2

( en )

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Publication number

Priority date

Publication date

Assignee

Title

US20210255643A1

( en )

2017-02-28

2021-08-19

Iain Matthew Russell

Unmanned aerial vehicles

US20240042926A1

( en )

2021-04-27

2024-02-08

Denso Corporation

Vehicle notification control device and vehicle notification control method

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Publication number

Priority date

Publication date

Assignee

Title

JP7213104B2

( en )

2019-02-27

2023-01-26

ä¸è±éå·¥æ¥æ ªå¼ä¼ç¤¾

Unmanned aerial vehicles and inspection methods

EP4707181A1

( en )

2020-01-13

2026-03-11

Skydio, Inc.

Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle with folding collapsible arms

WO2022155256A1

( en )

2021-01-13

2022-07-21

Hardshell Labs, Inc.

External cage for unmanned aerial vehicle

US11952105B2

( en )

2021-03-10

2024-04-09

BETA Technologies, Inc.

System and method for flight control in electric aircraft

US12379730B2

( en )

2021-03-31

2025-08-05

Beta Air Llc

Methods and systems for flight control configured for use in an electric aircraft

DE102021203823A1

( en )

2021-04-19

2022-10-20

Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG

Drone with direction-dependent sensor alignment for autonomous drone missions and collision avoidance processes

CN117980229A

( en )

2022-04-21

2024-05-03

æ·±å³å¸å¤§çåæ°ç§ææéå¬å¸

Unmanned aerial vehicles

WO2025034145A1

( en )

2023-08-04

2025-02-13

Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)

Calculating lateral distance from uncrewed autonomous vehicle to object

CN120171802B

( en )

2025-05-21

2025-07-22

é³åå¦é¢

A drone inspection device

Citations (14)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Publication number

Priority date

Publication date

Assignee

Title

US20100302359A1

( en )

2009-06-01

2010-12-02

Honeywell International Inc.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication

EP3044091A1

( en )

2013-09-10

2016-07-20

Universita' Degli Studi di Firenze

An improved drone structure

US9734583B2

( en )

2014-06-30

2017-08-15

Collin Walker

Systems and methods for controlling vehicle position and orientation

US20180003842A1

( en )

2016-06-30

2018-01-04

Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Method and apparatus for determining rough sea topography during a seismic survey

US10118696B1

( en )

2016-03-31

2018-11-06

Steven M. Hoffberg

Steerable rotating projectile

US20190259139A1

( en )

2016-11-17

2019-08-22

Sony Corporation

Image processing device and image processing method

US20190271767A1

( en )

2016-11-16

2019-09-05

Innoviz Technologies Ltd.

Dynamically Allocating Detection Elements to Pixels in LIDAR Systems

EP3126067B1

( en )

2014-04-03

2020-01-01

Cleandrone, S.L.

Agcfds: automated glass cleaning flying drone system

US20200108922A1

( en )

2018-10-03

2020-04-09

Sarcos Corp.

Deployable Aerial Countermeasures for Neutralizing and Capturing Target Aerial Vehicles

US20200108924A1

( en )

2018-10-03

2020-04-09

Sarcos Corp.

Close Proximity Countermeasures for Neutralizing Target Aerial Vehicles

US10627386B2

( en )

2016-10-12

2020-04-21

Aker Technologies, Inc.

System for monitoring crops and soil conditions

US20200284566A1

( en )

2019-03-06

2020-09-10

Bae Systems Information And Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

Search and protect device for airborne targets

US10899471B2

( en )

2017-01-24

2021-01-26

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd.

Flight indication apparatuses, systems and associated methods

US10925208B2

( en )

2017-10-31

2021-02-23

Deere & Company

System and method for monitioring vapor concentrations

2019

2019-07-01

US16/459,556

patent/US11307583B2/en

active

Active

Patent Citations (14)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Publication number

Priority date

Publication date

Assignee

Title

US20100302359A1

( en )

2009-06-01

2010-12-02

Honeywell International Inc.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication

EP3044091A1

( en )

2013-09-10

2016-07-20

Universita' Degli Studi di Firenze

An improved drone structure

EP3126067B1

( en )

2014-04-03

2020-01-01

Cleandrone, S.L.

Agcfds: automated glass cleaning flying drone system

US9734583B2

( en )

2014-06-30

2017-08-15

Collin Walker

Systems and methods for controlling vehicle position and orientation

US10118696B1

( en )

2016-03-31

2018-11-06

Steven M. Hoffberg

Steerable rotating projectile

US20180003842A1

( en )

2016-06-30

2018-01-04

Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Method and apparatus for determining rough sea topography during a seismic survey

US10627386B2

( en )

2016-10-12

2020-04-21

Aker Technologies, Inc.

System for monitoring crops and soil conditions

US20190271767A1

( en )

2016-11-16

2019-09-05

Innoviz Technologies Ltd.

Dynamically Allocating Detection Elements to Pixels in LIDAR Systems

US20190259139A1

( en )

2016-11-17

2019-08-22

Sony Corporation

Image processing device and image processing method

US10899471B2

( en )

2017-01-24

2021-01-26

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd.

Flight indication apparatuses, systems and associated methods

US10925208B2

( en )

2017-10-31

2021-02-23

Deere & Company

System and method for monitioring vapor concentrations

US20200108922A1

( en )

2018-10-03

2020-04-09

Sarcos Corp.

Deployable Aerial Countermeasures for Neutralizing and Capturing Target Aerial Vehicles

US20200108924A1

( en )

2018-10-03

2020-04-09

Sarcos Corp.

Close Proximity Countermeasures for Neutralizing Target Aerial Vehicles

US20200284566A1

( en )

2019-03-06

2020-09-10

Bae Systems Information And Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

Search and protect device for airborne targets

Non-Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Title

Burman , Prateek, Quadcopter stabilization with neural network, https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/45875, University of Texas Thesis and Disseration )(2016)(Hereinafter " Burman ").

Google Machine Translatio of EP3126067B1 to Pardell Apr. 3, 2014.

NPL, Huang , Chong, et al., ACT: An Autonomous Drone Cinematography System for Action Scenes, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8460703) (hereinafter " Huang ").

NPL, Kornatowski , P.M., et al., An Origami Inspired Cargo Drone, 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Sep. 24-28, 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8206607) (2017)(hereinafter " Kornatowski ").

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, â Cited by third party

Publication number

Priority date

Publication date

Assignee

Title

US20210255643A1

( en )

2017-02-28

2021-08-19

Iain Matthew Russell

Unmanned aerial vehicles

US20240042926A1

( en )

2021-04-27

2024-02-08

Denso Corporation

Vehicle notification control device and vehicle notification control method

US12311837B2

( en )

2021-04-27

2025-05-27

Denso Corporation

Vehicle notification control device and vehicle notification control method

Also Published As

Publication number

Publication date

US20210004003A1

( en )

2021-01-07

Drone with wide frontal field of view — Performance Drone Works Llc (US11307583B2)

Related documents