US 12,455,578 B1
Anomalous entity detection in a cooperative swarm of uncrewed vehicles
Brian Adam Hetsko, Lancaster, PA (US); Brent Franklin Davis, Windsor, PA (US); and Darrell Ray Snader, Manheim, PA (US)
Assigned to CAES Systems LLC, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed by CAES Systems LLC, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed on Nov. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/523,410.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/483,999, filed on Feb. 9, 2023.
Int. Cl. G05D 1/86 (2024.01); G01S 13/08 (2006.01); G01S 13/89 (2006.01); G05D 1/69 (2024.01); G05D 109/20 (2024.01); G05D 111/30 (2024.01)
CPC G05D 1/86 (2024.01) [G01S 13/08 (2013.01); G01S 13/89 (2013.01); G05D 1/69 (2024.01); G05D 2109/20 (2024.01); G05D 2111/30 (2024.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system of detecting an uncooperative uncrewed vehicle within a plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles, the system comprising:
a plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles, each vehicle comprising one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and a processor;
wherein each of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles is configured to:
transmit, via at least one of the one or more RF transmitters, a respective first RF signal containing a unique identification (ID) code;
receive, via at least one of the one or more RF receivers, a plurality of reflections of the first RF signal reflected off one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles and reflected off at least one uncooperative uncrewed vehicle;
calculate, via the processor, for at least some of the plurality of reflections, a distance at which the first RF signal was reflected based on an amount of time between the transmission of the first RF signal and the receiving of each of the plurality of reflections;
create, via the processor, one or more point clouds, each point cloud corresponding to the reflections of the first RF signal reflected off one of the others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles or off the at least one uncooperative uncrewed vehicle;
receive, via at least one of the one or more RF receivers, (i) respective first RF signals from one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles, each of the respective first RF signals containing a unique ID code and a location of a respective one of the one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles, or (ii) respective second RF signals from one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles, each of the respective second RF signals sent by a respective one of the one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles in response to receiving the first RF signal and each of the respective second RF signals having a deterministic delay;
correlate, via the processor, the created point clouds with (i) the received respective first RF signals from each of the one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles or (ii) the received respective second RF signals from each of one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles to determine which of the one or more point clouds is associated with which one of the one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles; and
determine, via the processor, which of the one or more point clouds is not associated with one of the one or more others of the plurality of cooperative uncrewed vehicles and is therefore associated with one of the at least one uncooperative uncrewed vehicle.