US 12,293,670 B2
Generating a flight plan of a semi-autonomous drone
Abhay Venkatesh, Irvine, CA (US); Brian W. Schimpf, Costa Mesa, CA (US); Elston ToChip, Vienna, VA (US); Jared Newman, Irvine, CA (US); Joshua John Bennett, Irvine, CA (US); Nikhil Reddy, Huntington Beach, CA (US); and Samuel R. Elie, Oakland, CA (US)
Assigned to Anduril Industries, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA (US)
Filed by Anduril Industries, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 17, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/478,663.
Prior Publication US 2023/0089977 A1, Mar. 23, 2023
Int. Cl. G08G 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC G08G 5/0039 (2013.01) [G08G 5/0008 (2013.01); G08G 5/0013 (2013.01); G08G 5/0043 (2013.01); G08G 5/0069 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
a semi-autonomous leader drone comprising a communication interface and
one or more processors coupled to the communication interface and configured to:
receive, via the communication interface, an indication that the leader drone is part of a set of assets;
obtain data associated with one or more tasks to be performed by the set of assets, wherein:
the set of assets comprises a plurality of drones and the plurality of drones is at least semi-autonomous; and
the data associated with the one or more tasks comprises one or more drone flight plans;
determine a discretized representation of a geographic location, wherein the discretized representation comprises a plurality of discrete elements each corresponding to a volume associated with the geographic location;
annotate the discretized representation with the one or more drone flight plans to create an annotated representation;
determine a first flight plan of at least one drone of the plurality of drones, wherein the first flight plan is determined based at least in part on the annotated representation, wherein determining the first flight plan comprises:
determining a plurality of sets of contiguous discrete elements between a location of the at least one drone at a first time and a target destination; and
determining, from among the plurality of sets of contiguous discrete elements, a particular set of contiguous discrete elements that is optimal with respect to a cost function based at least in part on the annotated representation and one or more variables, wherein the one or more variables comprise the extent of the first flight plan that the at least one other drone maintains a clear line of sight with one or more of the leader drone, the target destination, a control station, and another asset of the plurality of assets, and wherein the line of sight is a visual line of sight or a communication line of sight; and
control the at least one drone to perform the first flight plan, comprising communicating the first flight plan to the at least one drone.