US 12,492,022 B2
Environment illumination for autonomous aerial vehicles
Adam Parker Bry, Redwood City, CA (US); Abraham Galton Bachrach, San Francisco, CA (US); Kevin Patrick Smith O'Leary, San Francisco, CA (US); Asher Mendel Robbins-Rothman, Redwood City, CA (US); Zachary Albert West, Mountain View, CA (US); Daniel Thomas Adams, Palo Alto, CA (US); Christopher Brian Grasberger, Burlingame, CA (US); Enyu Luo, Redwood City, CA (US); and Benjamin Scott Thompson, San Carlos, CA (US)
Assigned to Skydio, Inc., San Mateo, CA (US)
Filed by Skydio, Inc., Redwood City, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 31, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/219,049.
Application 17/219,049 is a continuation of application No. 17/148,107, filed on Jan. 13, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/960,592, filed on Jan. 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0245860 A1, Aug. 12, 2021
Int. Cl. B64U 20/83 (2023.01); B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 20/87 (2023.01); B64U 30/293 (2023.01); B64U 60/20 (2023.01); B64U 60/50 (2023.01); B64U 101/30 (2023.01)
CPC B64U 20/83 (2023.01) [B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 20/87 (2023.01); B64U 30/293 (2023.01); B64U 60/20 (2023.01); B64U 60/50 (2023.01); B64U 2101/30 (2023.01); B64U 2201/104 (2023.01); B64U 2201/20 (2023.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An aerial vehicle comprising:
a plurality of upward facing cameras;
a plurality of downward facing cameras;
a forward facing camera attached to a gimbal;
a plurality of illumination sources; and
control circuitry communicatively coupled to the plurality of image capture devices and the plurality of illumination sources, the control circuitry configured to:
selectively direct at least one of the plurality of illumination sources to emit transient bursts of light in a direction such that the bursts of light illuminate only portions of a surrounding physical environment;
selectively direct one or more of the plurality of upward facing cameras or the plurality of downward facing cameras to capture images of the illuminated portions of the surrounding physical environment,
wherein the transient bursts of light coincide with exposure periods of the one or more of the plurality of upward facing cameras or the plurality of downward facing cameras;
process the images of the illuminated portions of the surrounding physical environment to obtain depth measurements; and
generate a planned trajectory for the aerial vehicle through the surrounding physical environment based on the depth measurements.