US 11,656,638 B1
Backup navigation system for unmanned aerial vehicles
Dinuka Abeywardena, Mountain View, CA (US); and Damien Jourdan, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Wing Aviation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Wing Aviation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 23, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/133,610.
Application 17/133,610 is a continuation of application No. 16/411,576, filed on May 14, 2019, granted, now 10,908,622.
Application 16/411,576 is a continuation of application No. 15/703,948, filed on Sep. 13, 2017, granted, now 10,387,727, issued on Aug. 20, 2019.
Int. Cl. G05D 1/10 (2006.01); B64D 47/08 (2006.01); G01C 11/06 (2006.01); G01C 21/32 (2006.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01)
CPC G05D 1/106 (2019.05) [B64D 47/08 (2013.01); G01C 11/06 (2013.01); G01C 21/32 (2013.01); G06V 20/13 (2022.01); B64C 2201/028 (2013.01); B64C 2201/123 (2013.01); B64C 2201/127 (2013.01); B64C 2201/141 (2013.01); B64C 2201/146 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
during a flight along a first flight path to a destination by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), operating an image capture device coupled to the UAV to capture a first set of one or more images of an environment of the UAV;
analyzing the first set of one or more images to identify a plurality of first structures within the environment;
generating a local flight log for the first flight path, wherein the local flight log associates one or more of the first structures with location information from a primary navigation system of the UAV;
determining a current location of the UAV by determining a relationship between at least one of the first structures and a first localized feature of a map;
comparing the current location of the UAV to the location information from the primary navigation system;
based on determining that a discrepancy between the current location and the location information from the primary navigation system is greater than a threshold, detecting a failure event involving the primary navigation system of the UAV; and
responsive to detecting the failure event:
capturing at least one post-failure image using the image capture device;
identifying, in the at least one post-failure image, one or more second structures within the environment; and
determining an updated current location of the UAV based on a relationship between (i) at least one of the second structures and (ii) at least one of: a second localized feature of the map or location information from the local flight log.