Description:FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(SEE SECTION 10 AND RULE 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION: “UNMANNED AIRCRAFT COLLISION AVOIDANCE”
1. APPLICANT(s):

(a) NAME: SKYE AIR MOBILITY PRIVATE LIMITED
(b) NATIONALITY: India
(c) ADDRESS: PLOT NO. 272, GULF ADIBA, PHASE II, UDYOG VIHAR, SECTOR 20, GURUGRAM, HARYANA 122008, INDIA.

(a) NAME: KUMAR, ANKIT
(b) NATIONALITY: India
(c) ADDRESS: 204 PANCHSHEEL APARTMENT BLOCK A PLOT 9 DWARKA SECTOR 10 DELHI 110075
2. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION:
PROVISIONAL
The following specification describes the invention. COMPLETE
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention generally relates to collision avoidance system or method for unmanned aircrafts such as drones, unmanned aerial vehicles etc. implemented in hardware, software or in combination of both hardware and software.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Unmanned Aircrafts such as drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have proliferated in recent years due to advancement in technology. Unmanned Aircrafts are becoming more popular. Besides recreational use, Unmanned Aircrafts are now performing commercial and military tasks such as, for example, monitoring areas (e.g., for security purposes), delivering products from one location to another, searching areas for missing people and/or items, and visual productions (e.g., filming and photography).

[0003] Unmanned Aircrafts are prone to collisions with other aircrafts due to various factors. Current collision avoidance techniques have various limitations such as correlation check with other unmanned aircrafts is only done when the unmanned aircrafts goes out of the buffer region, deconfliction check is performed only with the unmanned aircrafts within the group or hub but not performed when the unmanned aircrafts enters other group or hub, not alerting the nearby unmanned aircrafts when there is deviation in path of one of the unmanned aircraft, correlation check for whole map layer data takes longer time period etc.

[0004] In order to overcome these limitations there is a need for a technique to declare a loss of separation between unmanned aircrafts and alerting the users of the unmanned aircrafts a time to loss of separation to avoid collision.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0005] An object of the present invention is to generate a time to loss of separation between unmanned aircrafts and alert the same to avoid collision.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a unique code/plus code for each mission of the unmanned aircrafts that keeps changing based on various factors and check deconfliction with unmanned aircrafts timely through mission logs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] According to the present invention, the embodiments herein provide a system and a method for collision avoidance between unmanned aircrafts by calculating time to loss of separation between the unmanned aircrafts and alerting the same to the users of the unmanned aircrafts. The time to loss of separation is declared after comparing a distance between future positions of the unmanned aircrafts and a separation criteria. Once the calculated distance is less than the separation criteria the time to loss of separation is declared to the users of the unmanned aircrafts.

[0008] In accordance with an embodiment,

[0009] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] Figure 1 illustrates a deconfliction module, according to an embodiment herein.
[0011] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for collision avoidance between unmanned aircrafts, according to an embodiment herein.
[0012] Figure 3 illustrates a computer system, according to an embodiment herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] In order to make objects, technical details and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments will be described in a clearly and fully understandable way in connection with the related drawings. It is apparent that the described embodiments are just a part but not all of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the described embodiments herein, those skilled in the art can obtain, without any inventive work, other embodiment(s) which should be within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0014] An embodiment of this invention, illustrating its features, will now be described in detail. The words "comprising, "having, "containing," and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.

[0015] The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0016] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described. The words “first”, “second” and the like used in this disclosure do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Similar words such as “comprising” or “including” refer to that the elements or objects appearing before the word cover the listed elements or objects appearing after the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. “Up”, “down”, “left” and “right” are only used to express the relative positional relationship. When the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0017] All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.

[0018] Figure 1 discloses a deconfliction module system 100 where the first unmanned aircraft 101 and the second unmanned aircraft 102 are in a vicinity. The system 100 checks whether there is a collision possibility between the unmanned aircrafts.

[0019] Figure 2 discloses a flowchart of a method for collision avoidance between unmanned aircrafts 200. The method comprising steps of: determining current 201 and predicted positions 203 of the first and second unmanned aircrafts, estimating collision possibility based on the current positions 202, generating a separation criteria 204, calculating distance between the predicted positions 205, comparing the calculated distance with the separation criteria 206, alerting 208 users of the unmanned aircrafts with loss of separation/collision possibility if the calculated distance is less than the separation criteria 207 and if there calculated distance is greater than or equal to the separation criteria continue with the mission 209.

[0020] In an embodiment, the separation criteria is generated by referring to referring to but not limited to aviation regulations, guidelines, Air Traffic Control instructions, Instrument Flight Rules, Visual Flight Rules, airspace class, altitude, weather conditions etc.

[0021] In an embodiment, the current positions are determined by considering latitude, longitude, altitude, speed and direction of the unmanned aircrafts.

[0022] In an embodiment, the predicted positions of the unmanned aircrafts is estimated based on position, navigation, time, size and velocity of the unmanned aircrafts.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 300 according to an embodiment of the invention. Computer system 300 includes an Interlink 301 or BUS or other communication mechanism for communicating information, a processor 302 coupled with the interlink 301 for processing information, a memory 303, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the interlink 301 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 302, a read only memory (ROM) 304 or other static storage device coupled to interlink 301 for storing static information and instructions for processor 302, a storage device 305, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to interlink 301 for storing information and instructions, a display 306 coupled to the interlink 301 for displaying information to a user, an input device 307 coupled to the interlink 301 for communicating information to the computer system 300, a navigation user interface 308 coupled to the interlink 301 for providing navigation access to the user, a communication interface 309 coupled to the interlink 301 which provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network 310 that is connected to internet 311 which is a local network, sensors 312 of the unmanned aircraft coupled to the interlink 301 and a server 313 connected to the internet 311.

[0024] One or more embodiments of the deconfliction module system 100 according to the present invention, includes checking deconfliction with live unmanned aircraft by checking mission logs, checking includes calculation of radius wherein calculating radius of the unmanned aircrafts based on one or more parameters including but not limited to type of unmanned aircraft, speed of unmanned aircraft etc. or in combination thereof, this radius of the unmanned aircraft will keep on changing based on but not limited to speed, size etc. or in combination thereof, calculate radius of the other nearby unmanned aircrafts.

[0025] In one embodiment, in order to check radius or mission logs of nearby unmanned aircrafts the nearby unmanned aircrafts are grouped into a small hub or a group of missions, the grouping will be done using a plus code for each mission. The plus code is generated based on latitude and longitude of the mission. The plus code is a unique code that changes dynamically based on various factors including but not limited to distance and is usually generated when a user submits mission details which includes latitude and longitude information of that particular mission.

[0026] In one embodiment, the pluscode looks like for example “7J4WXHCV+JR”, where each character in the plus code changes based on the distance.
For example:
1. Bangalore majestic plus code - 7J4VXHGC+PP
2. Bglre Banashankari plus code - 7J4VWH8F+6F
3. Hosur plus code - 7J4VPRQF+VR
4. Tumkur plus code - 7J5V84CX+P9

[0027] The plus code changes 5th and 6th characters for every 5-10 km, whereas the 3rd and 4th characters are changed for every 100 km. The grouping of the unmanned aircrafts of various missions is done based on the plus code. For example, a group starting with “7J4V’ name will have only those region missions grouped after checking the starting name of the group. Initially if there is no group a new group is created and if the group already exists then that particular mission is added into that particular group.

[0028] In one embodiment, the unmanned aircraft comprises multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, an electronic digital memory unit and one or more digital processors that are configured to execute instructions that are either stored in the memory unit or received from user or pilot and programmed to perform but not limited to determining a unmanned aircraft velocity, direction, latitude, longitude, altitude etc. and broadcasting the data over a radio frequency. The unmanned aircraft is further configured to change the flight path in response to declaration of loss of separation by the system, with other unmanned aircrafts in the vicinity. The unmanned aircraft can perform change of flight path, with or without additional inputs from the user.

[0029] In one embodiment, the system and method for avoiding collision avoidance between unmanned aircrafts can be implemented in various areas such as but not limited to deconfliction with live unmanned aircrafts, deconfliction with realtime weather data, deconfliction with unmanned aircraft parameters such as type, speed etc., deconfliction with alternate flight plan suggestion etc.

[0030] In one embodiment, the unmanned aircrafts includes a buffer region in addition to the assigned radius. The comparision or correlation for determining deconfliction between the unmanned aircraft with other unmanned aircrafts can be performed when the unmanned aircraft comes out of the buffer region.

[0031] In one embodiment, the checking for deconfliction can be performed between the unmanned aircrafts that are within the hub/group or with other hub/group.

[0032] In one embodiment, the user/pilot is alerted when the unmanned aircraft deviates from its current path.

[0033] In another embodiment, a virtual boundary is created considering the whole flight plan and checked for possible correlation map layers during live operation, the deconfliction module system always checks with the predefined map layers during live operation and if an unmanned aircraft deviates and crosses more than 75% of the unmanned aircraft diameter then it is updated by the user/pilot/processor within the unmanned aircraft with a new diameter based on new diameter and the map layer is updated accordingly.

[0034] In another embodiment, the system and method of the invention can be implemented when unmanned aircraft has conflict with but not limited to weather related errors, manned aircrafts, other unmanned aircrafts, building and structures, powerlines, reserved air spaces, restricted map layers etc.

[0035] In some embodiments, the Steps involved to implement deconfliction includes:
1. creating of a new hub or assigning the mission/flight to the existing hub based on the mission/flight plan.
a. when the user submits the mission/flight plan the pluscode is checked for hub creation/adding a mission/flight to an existing hub.
2. listing out the map layers correlating to the mission/flight plan during mission/flight plan submission.
a. Do a projected position plan/create a diameter that should cover the entire mission/flight plan from start to end of the mission.
b. List out the map layers correlating with this projected position plan/diameter and add it to the mission/flight details. Checking the correlation with only the defined map layers to reduce the computation and processing time of the server.
c. The projected plan/diameter and defined map layers will be updated, only when the unmanned aircrafts takes deviation.
3. Creating one more dynamic projected position plans during live missions.
a. Considering various parameters in creating a projection position plan. The parameters includes but not limited to:
1. Unmanned aircraft Type
2. Unmanned aircraft Speed
3. Unmanned aircraft PNT (position, navigation, and time)
b. The projected position plan will be updated dynamically with new parameters during live missions.
4. During live missions many conditions/aspects are checked including but not limited to:
a. Checking whether the unmanned aircraft position is within the projected position plan/diameter,
1. if the unmanned aircraft is within that vicinity/area proceed with the next set of checks and conditions.
2. If the unmanned aircraft is not within the predefined area then update its projected position plan/diameter and the map layers list.
b. Checking the dynamic projected position plan if it correlates with any other unmanned aircraft’s positions (unmanned aircrafts belonging to the same hub that are active).
1. if the unmanned aircraft correlates then alert both unmanned aircraft’s pilots/users with different types of notifications.
2. if the unmanned aircraft does not correlate then proceed with the next set of checks and conditions.
3. These checks will happen for the last log from the server which is captured by unmanned aircraft.
c. Checking if there is conflict with weather report data.
d. Checking if there is conflict with manned aircraft.
5. After the successful completion of the mission the unmanned aircraft is released by its hub.

[0036] In some embodiments, the computer system may be integrated into the unmanned aircraft and may execute collision avoidance application that is programmed to perform various functions/steps as described in the above embodiments. The unmanned aircraft can be autonomous and can be controlled by the user/pilot through a remote controller.

[0037] In one embodiment, the unmanned aircraft is configured to perform actions automatically when loss of separation is declared or collision is confirmed. The actions includes but are not limited to: increasing altitude, decreasing altitude, increasing speed, decreasing speed, changing direction, hovering, a barrel roll, a split-s, or any other basic fighter maneuver, and/or any other suitable actions.

[0038] In another embodiment, In one embodiment, the collision avoidance system comprises program instructions that are programmed or configured to send feedback to the remote controller regarding various actions of the unmanned aircraft. The feedback can be in the form of sound, notification on the display device, lights, vibration etc. or in combination thereof over the remote controller but not limited.

[0039] In one embodiment, the unmanned aircrafts are equipped with sensors such as but not limited to gyroscope, altimeter, compass, accelerometer, GPS receiver etc.

[0040] The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application, and to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the present invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is understood that various omissions and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, but such omissions and substitutions are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the scope of the claims of the present invention.

[0041] While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein.

[0042] The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another 15 embodiment. For example, order of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts need to be necessarily performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples.

Reference Numerals Corresponding Features
101 First Unmanned Aircraft
102 Second Unmanned Aircraft
301 Interlink
302 Processor
303 Memory
304 ROM
305 Storage Device
306 Display
307 Input Device
308 Navigation UI
309 Communication Interface
310 Network
311 Internet
312 Sensors
313 Server , Claims:We Claim:

1. A machine implemented method for avoiding collision between unmanned aircrafts, comprising the steps of:
determining a current position and a current velocity of a first unmanned aircraft and a second unmanned aircraft;
estimating a collision possibility between the first unmanned aircraft and the second unmanned aircraft;
calculating a predicted position of the first unmanned aircraft and the second unmanned aircraft to determine time for the collision possibility;
generating a separation criteria for avoiding the collision possibility of the unmanned aircrafts;
calculating distance between the future positions of the unmanned aircrafts;
comparing the calculated distance with the generated separation criteria; and
alerting one or more users of the unmanned aircrafts with a loss of separation occurrence notification if the calculated distance is less than the separation criteria.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the current position is determined using one or more position factors including but not limited to latitude, longitude, altitude etc. and the current velocity is determined using one or more velocity factors including but not limited to speed, direction etc. or in combination thereof.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the future position is calculated using position, navigation, time, velocity and size of the unmanned aircraft.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separation criteria is generated by referring to but not limited to aviation regulations, guidelines, Air Traffic Control instructions, Instrument Flight Rules, Visual Flight Rules, airspace class, altitude, weather conditions or in combination thereof.

5. A system for avoiding collision between unmanned aircrafts, comprising:
a deconfliction module for:
determining a current position and a current velocity of a first unmanned aircraft and a second unmanned aircraft;
estimating a collision possibility between the first unmanned aircraft and the second unmanned aircraft;
calculating a predicted position of the first unmanned aircraft and the second unmanned aircraft to determine time for the collision possibility;
generating a separation criteria for avoiding the collision possibility of the unmanned aircrafts;
calculating distance between the future positions of the unmanned aircrafts;
comparing the calculated distance with the generated separation criteria; and
alerting one or more users of the unmanned aircrafts with a loss of separation occurrence notification if the calculated distance is less than the separation criteria.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the unmanned aircrafts are controlled by the one or more users using a remote controller.

7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the unmanned aircraft can be but not limited to a drone, unmanned aerial vehicle etc.

8. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the separation criteria can include a distance of separation.

9. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second unmanned aircraft can be but not limited to manned aircraft.

10. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the collision possibility is estimated based on deviation of the unmanned aircrafts from its radius.