US 12,461,543 B2
Using NeRF models to facilitate operations of a UAV delivery service
Dinuka Abeywardena, Mountain View, CA (US); Konstantin Bozhkov, Santa Clara, CA (US); Linhao Jin, Santa Clara, CA (US); Domitille Commun, Los Altos, CA (US); Xinzhi Fan, San Mateo, CA (US); and Kyle Krafka, Los Altos, CA (US)
Assigned to Wing Aviation LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by WING Aviation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 23, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/382,806.
Prior Publication US 2025/0130581 A1, Apr. 24, 2025
Int. Cl. G05D 1/46 (2024.01); G06N 3/02 (2006.01)
CPC G05D 1/46 (2024.01) [G06N 3/02 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) service, the method comprising:
acquiring aerial images of a scene at an area of interest (AOI), wherein the aerial images are acquired with a UAV of the UAV service during a flight mission of the UAV that passes over the AOI;
training a neural radiance field (NeRF) model on-board the UAV with one or more of the aerial images, wherein the NeRF model comprises a neural network, which after the training, encodes a volumetric representation of the scene capable of generating novel views of the scene different than any of the aerial images used to train the NeRF model;
determining whether a terrain model of the AOI maintained in a backend data system of the UAV service is deemed out-of-date based upon whether the training of the NeRF model results in greater than a threshold change in the NeRF model; and
uploading a mission log of the flight mission to the backend data system, the mission log including image data that includes, or is derived from, at least a portion of the aerial images.