GB2594525A - Unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Unmanned aerial vehicle Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2594525A
GB2594525A GB2006611.4A GB202006611A GB2594525A GB 2594525 A GB2594525 A GB 2594525A GB 202006611 A GB202006611 A GB 202006611A GB 2594525 A GB2594525 A GB 2594525A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
drone
landing pad
pad
landing
software application
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
GB2006611.4A
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GB202006611D0 (en
Inventor
Thomas Morgan Richard
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Morgan Land Sea And Air LLP
Original Assignee
Morgan Land Sea And Air LLP
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Morgan Land Sea And Air LLP filed Critical Morgan Land Sea And Air LLP
Publication of GB202006611D0 publication Critical patent/GB202006611D0/en
Publication of GB2594525A publication Critical patent/GB2594525A/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENTS OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D45/00—Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for
    • B64D45/04—Landing aids; Safety measures to prevent collision with earth's surface
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64F—GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING OR REPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B64F1/00—Ground or aircraft-carrier-deck installations
    • B64F1/007—Helicopter portable landing pads
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENTS OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D45/00—Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for
    • B64D45/04—Landing aids; Safety measures to prevent collision with earth's surface
    • B64D45/08—Landing aids; Safety measures to prevent collision with earth's surface optical
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64F—GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING OR REPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B64F1/00—Ground or aircraft-carrier-deck installations
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64F—GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING OR REPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B64F1/00—Ground or aircraft-carrier-deck installations
    • B64F1/18—Visual or acoustic landing aids
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U50/00—Propulsion; Power supply
    • B64U50/30—Supply or distribution of electrical power
    • B64U50/37—Charging when not in flight
    • B64U50/38—Charging when not in flight by wireless transmission
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U70/00—Launching, take-off or landing arrangements
    • B64U70/90—Launching from or landing on platforms
    • B64U70/95—Means for guiding the landing UAV towards the platform, e.g. lighting means
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course or altitude of land, water, air, or space vehicles, e.g. automatic pilot
    • G05D1/04—Control of altitude or depth
    • G05D1/06—Rate of change of altitude or depth
    • G05D1/0607—Rate of change of altitude or depth specially adapted for aircraft
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course or altitude of land, water, air, or space vehicles, e.g. automatic pilot
    • G05D1/04—Control of altitude or depth
    • G05D1/06—Rate of change of altitude or depth
    • G05D1/0607—Rate of change of altitude or depth specially adapted for aircraft
    • G05D1/0653—Rate of change of altitude or depth specially adapted for aircraft during a phase of take-off or landing
    • G05D1/0676—Rate of change of altitude or depth specially adapted for aircraft during a phase of take-off or landing specially adapted for landing
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G08G5/0004—Transmission of traffic-related information to or from an aircraft
    • G08G5/0013—Transmission of traffic-related information to or from an aircraft with a ground station
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G08G5/0017—Arrangements for implementing traffic-related aircraft activities, e.g. arrangements for generating, displaying, acquiring or managing traffic information
    • G08G5/0021—Arrangements for implementing traffic-related aircraft activities, e.g. arrangements for generating, displaying, acquiring or managing traffic information located in the aircraft
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G08G5/0047—Navigation or guidance aids for a single aircraft
    • G08G5/0069—Navigation or guidance aids for a single aircraft specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G08G5/0073—Surveillance aids
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
    • G08G5/02—Automatic approach or landing aids, i.e. systems in which flight data of incoming planes are processed to provide landing data
    • G08G5/025—Navigation or guidance aids
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
    • H04W12/03—Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
    • H04W12/033—Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U10/00—Type of UAV
    • B64U10/10—Rotorcrafts
    • B64U10/13—Flying platforms
    • B64U10/14—Flying platforms with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U2101/00—UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
    • B64U2101/60—UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
    • B64U2101/64—UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons for parcel delivery or retrieval
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U2201/00—UAVs characterised by their flight controls
    • B64U2201/10—UAVs characterised by their flight controls autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64U—UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
    • B64U2201/00—UAVs characterised by their flight controls
    • B64U2201/10—UAVs characterised by their flight controls autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
    • B64U2201/104—UAVs characterised by their flight controls autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS

Abstract

A landing pad for a drone 2, comprising a generally planar pad, and a control unit providing encrypted communication with a drone as it comes in to land, proving the drone has arrived at the correct destination. The landing pad may allow a drone to exchange encrypted keys to verify the pad is the correct destination for enhanced security of package delivery (e.g. pharmaceutical drugs). The landing pad may contain visible markings, e.g. QR code optical encodings. A battery may be charged via an inductive charging coil when the drone has landed on the pad. An aerial drone having a GNSS receiver providing general navigational guidance and a radio or optical transponder communicating with a landing pad to provide detailed local navigation, once in the vicinity of the landing pad, and confirmation of the correct destination, before landing is disclosed. A radio network connection may pass UAV location information to server. A software application communicating with a server to determine aerial drone location and provide visual indication and/or early warning of an aerial drone's arrival is disclosed.

Description

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE
This invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle and in particular to a small aerial vehicle typically used in domestic or urban environments and commonly described as a "drone".
There is increasing interest in delivering goods using unmanned aerial vehicles which in this context, are more commonly called "drones". Such vehicles typically have a central structure and four rotors with axes which are generally vertical in flight. These devices are commonly used for low level aerial photography, but if sufficiently powerful may also be used to carry items from one landing site to another.
Hitherto, such drones have relied for accurate location of the correct landing site, either on a line of sight view by the remote pilot, or on automated flight navigation using GNSS networks such as GPS or GLONASS. In the former case the pilot can of course readily verify that the drone is landing in the correct place. However, a line of sight requirement means that the range of the drone is severely limited. On the other hand, reliance on a GNSS receiver has several significant flaws, particularly in a domestic environment. Firstly, GNSS accuracy is at best reliable only to within a few metres and typically ten metres. This reliability can reduce significantly in difficult environments such as urban canyons where streets with high buildings limit the number of satellites in view, thus reducing positioning accuracy. The second significant problem is that if a delivery drone is being directed to a particular street address, the correlation between address databases and mapping coordinates provided by satellite positioning systems is poor and varies greatly from country to country. This can be seen, for example, by trying to view a particular address using Google street view or Google maps -these databases frequently place a particular building number in the wrong position and, for example, business addresses routinely have to provide one-off updates to the mapping data to improve the accuracy of such databases.
Accordingly, it is very difficult in any reasonably dense urban environment in which multiple addresses are positioned closely together, to be sure that a delivery drone can automatically locate and land at the correct site.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a landing pad for a drone, comprising a generally planar pad, and a control unit, the control unit being arranged to provide encrypted communication with a drone as it comes in to land, in order to prove the drone has arrived at the correct destination.
In a second aspect, the invention provides, an aerial drone having a GNSS receiver to provide general navigational guidance and a radio or optical transponder to communicate with a landing pad to provide detailed local navigation, once in the vicinity of the landing pad, and confirmation of the correct destination, before landing.
In a third aspect, the invention provides, a software application arranged to communicate with a server to determine the location of an aerial drone, and to provide a visual indication and/or early warning, of an aerial drone's arrival.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example, and with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1A is a schematic diagram of a delivery drone; Figure 1 B is a plan view of a suitable landing pad; and Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the drone, a smart phone mobile application and landing pad showing data flows.
With reference to Figure 1A, a drone 2, has a central body 4 and typically four spars carrying rotors 6. The body 4 includes a power source (typically a battery pack and electrical connections into motors which drive the rotor 6) or occasionally for larger vehicles, an internal combustion engine burning hydrocarbon fuels. The drone 2 also includes a radio to receive remote commands and acknowledge receipt and a controller to automatically provide flight stability and directional control under remote command. Additionally, the drone includes functionality to fly automatically, to a particular destination, typically using a GNSS signal and receiver as its primary navigational source. Thus, with reference also to Figure 2, the drone includes a GPS receiver 8, a controller 10 and a battery pack 12. Also, in a preferred embodiment, the drone 2 includes radios 14 for receiving packetized digital data such as internet data over a cellular mobile data connection, and optionally a Bluetooth radio. These radios may replace the conventional radios used for sending remote commands. The use of these digital data connections will be discussed in more detail below.
The drone also preferably has a secure compartment which can be opened only under control of the controller 10. This means that the drone can be used to transport valuable packages, for example, pharmaceutical drugs, without risk of their interception and removal from the drone at the wrong destination.
The compartment, not shown, may be provided by a recess formed in the body 4 of the drone (preferably at the bottom so that materials will be released by gravity) and covered by a hinge or sliding, solenoid operated door; the solenoid being operated under control of the controller 10.
Another important part of the jigsaw in ensuring secure delivery of packages is to make sure that the drone arrives at the correct destination.
Accordingly, and with reference to Figure 1B, the invention also includes a specialised landing pad 13. The pad may take the form of a generally conventional planar sheet or board with visible markings on the surface. These markings may include particular optical encodings (such as a OR code) which allow the drone to identify optically, using optical sensors 16, that it has reached the correct site. This would be suitable for relatively low security deliveries, since an optical encoding option would be open to relatively simple copying, thus allowing production of a false landing pad. A more secure method is to provide the landing pad with radio transmission capabilities 20 so that the drone is able to both use the transmission for direction finding by triangulating the source of the transmission, once it is in the vicinity, using GNSS navigation, and also to exchange encrypted keys under control of a controller 22, to determine that the pad really is the correct destination. These transmissions may, for example, be made in the loosely regulated ISM 2.4 GHz band or by high power Bluetooth communications. As the range of Bluetooth communications may be insufficient without augmentation, to find the landing pad, it is likely that a Bluetooth handshake solution would be used to provide extra security with the optical system described above. The advantage of this being that it may be simpler and therefore cheaper, to implement than using a transponder type location system. The over arching concept is to ensure that the drone can, with an appropriate level of security, depending on the packages being delivered, uniquely determine that the landing pad is the intended destination. Once this has been done, the drone commences an automated landing on the pad and automatically opens the storage compartment to release the package.
The landing pad 13 may also include battery charging capability 18. This may be achieved using a docking arrangement with direct electrical connections into the drone's battery systems 12 or using inductive charging techniques. The choice of these, based on current technology will be based on complexity of aligning the drone with a docking station but being able to deliver faster charging over a direct electrical connection versus the simplicity of alignment with inductive charging coils but acceptance of a likely slower charging rate for the batteries. If the drone is intended to make frequent journeys, it is likely that the docking station solution will be used. However, if the drone makes infrequent journeys and spends a long duty cycle sitting on a landing pad, then inductive charging would probably be the optimal choice.
It is likely that only the "home" landing pad will have charging capability and that instead a simpler, non-charging, pad would be available for delivery destinations. For example, a pharmacy may have a charging landing pad and the drone may spend a great deal of its time sitting on the pharmacy's pad and may then be sent out to deliver pharmaceutical drugs to customers. The customer's landing pad may be used simply to prove that the correct destination has been reached but provide no charging for the drone. However, as the customer's landing pad still has electronic components, for example, radio and authentication devices, the landing pad itself is likely to carry rechargeable batteries or some other source of electrical power such as a connection into the electrical grid.
The landing pad may be a permanent fixture (e.g. for siting on the roof of a pharmacy) or a temporary fixture e.g. something that a customer can place on a roof or front drive or garden, when they are expecting a delivery.
The landing pad 13 typically also includes a secure receptacle which is aligned with the secure compartment in the drone 2. Thus when the drone lands on the pad, a secure exchange of the payload maybe made in a way which does not require the owner of the landing pad to be present. The owner may simply, subsequently open the secure receptacle in the landing pad once they return home. The secure receptacle will typically be a recess in the pad covered by an electrically operable door.
Before dispatch to a user or customer, the landing pad 13 must be paired with one or more drone. This may be achieved using NFC technology, Bluetooth pairing or by sending appropriate identity keys over the Internet. This latter option may be achieved remotely if an end user connects their landing pad to their local Internet connection e.g., by Wi-Fi.
An NFC pairing may also be used for the drone to identify whether it is at the correct landing pad and is therefor authorised to release its payload. In this case, the drone landing pad may use a standard IS07816 exchange in the same way as contactless payment is achieved. Likewise, the pad may be programmed remotely in the same way that Apple Pay is achieved using NEC hardware in a mobile telephone in conjunction with an NEC card reader.
In these ways, a retail outlet such as a pharmacy, is able to authorise landing pads for distribution using its own network channels eg collection from its retail outlet or Postal delivery.
As a further alternative, the drone may include a winch with a container at the end of a rope or wire. The drone may then hover at the location without landing, and lower a package using the winch. The container may be opened remotely under control of the drone in this instance. As a further enhancement of this embodiment, the container may include a sensor, such as a Bluetooth or optical transceiver, which can perform the handshake with the landing pad to ensure that the correct destination has been reached.
In this way, relatively short-range communications may be used for the handshake, which improves simplicity and reduces cost of the drone and landing pad.
In order to help the customer know that a delivery is nearby, the invention also includes a software application 24 to use with an internet-connected device such as a PC, smartphone or tablet. In conjunction with a server 26, the drone may provide current location information to the server 26 (e.g. Over the cellular radio 14) and the software application may interrogate the server 26 and warn a customer when the drone is nearby and preferably with an indication of a time of arrival. The time of arrival can be calculated based on current flight speeds (taking into account environmental conditions such as windspeed and direction) and also distance to the destination. The software application may provide a map showing current drone location and an anticipated flight path to the destination. This allows a customer or user to be warned to place the landing pad ready for landing, in good time before the drone arrives. The application may also be arranged to interoperate with existing flight transponder and flight planning systems such as uAvionix "SkyEcho" or Divelements Limited "SkyDemon".
As a further alternative, the software application, combined with an Internet connected mobile device such as a smartphone or computer tablet, may replace the landing pad. In this case, the handshake with the drone as it comes in to the land will typically be carried out entirely by radio. This might for example be by Internet communication with a server and passing of suitable credentials to prove that the smartphone or tablet is the correct one, or it may be by a Bluetooth handshake. Optionally, the display of the mobile computing device may be arranged to display a code such as a OR code, on its screen which can be read by the drone as the only, or as a supplementary verification of identity.
In the former case, the drone needs to have its own Internet connection but in the latter case the drone may simply have optical reading means, such as a camera. The choice of these technologies typically will be a balance between complexity and security on the one hand, and simplicity and an acceptance of reduced security on the other. The skilled person will appreciate which options to choose in appropriate situations. In particular, it will be noted that many computer tablets do not have a native Internet connection; typically relying, for example, on a Wi-Fi or mobile phone hotspot connection in order to access the Internet. Thus in this case, the optical option would be suitable.
Thus, a user may download a software application, prove identity and then use for example, a mobile tablet as a landing pad. The tablet may be placed screen upwards on a suitable landing site and the radio verification, optionally along with optical verification, be used to cause the drone to come in to land and deliver the package. This provides the significant advantages of being able to distribute the "landing pad "electronically in the form of credentials for use in a dedicated software application. It allows the customer to use their own pre-existing hardware to provide suitable location and identity authentication with the drone and avoids the need to distribute physical landing pads as used in the previous embodiment. This software application that replaces the landing pad of earlier embodiments may also include the features of warning a user that the drone is nearby. However, this warning function may be provided by a separate application operating, for example, on a separate device such as the user's smartphone.

Claims (10)

  1. Claims 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.A landing pad for a drone, comprising a generally planar pad, and a control unit, the control unit being arranged to provide encrypted communication with a drone as it comes in to land, in order to prove the drone has arrived at the correct destination.A landing pad as claimed in claim 1, including battery charging apparatus to provide battery charge for a drone when the drone has landed on the pad.
  2. A landing pad as claimed in claim 2, wherein the battery charging apparatus includes an inductive charging coil arranged to cooperate with an inductive coil on the drone to pass charging current therebetween.
  3. A landing pad as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein the battery charging apparatus includes a mechanical dock which engages with a corresponding charging element on a drone to provide mechanical location and electrical connection to allow charging of the battery of a drone through the electrical connection from the landing pad.
  4. An aerial drone having a GNSS receiver to provide general navigational guidance and a radio or optical transponder, to communicate with a landing pad to provide detailed local navigation, once in the vicinity of the landing pad, and confirmation of the correct destination, before landing.
  5. An aerial drone according to claim 5, having a radio network connection operable to communicate with the server to pass location information about the drone, back to the server.
  6. A software application which when executed on computer hardware, is arranged to communicate with a server to determine the location of an aerial drone, and to provide a visual indication and/or early warning, of an aerial drone's arrival.
  7. A software application as claimed in claimed 7, wherein the visual indication and/or early warning is provided via a web browser interface.
  8. S
  9. 9. A software application as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the application is arranged to execute on hardware having an Internet-connected radio transceiver and wherein the software application causes the hardware to provide an encrypted communication with a drone as it comes into land, in order to prove the drone has arrived at a destination close to the hardware.A software application as claimed in any of claims 7 to 9, wherein the application is arranged to execute on hardware having an optical display and wherein the software application causes the hardware to provide an encrypted optical communication with a drone as it comes into land, in order to prove the drone has arrived at a destination close to the hardware.A landing identifier for a drone, comprising a mobile computing device such as a smartphone or tablet, and arranged to execute the software application of any of claims 7 to
  10. 10.An identifier as claimed in claim 11, including a radio transceiver, such as a cellular mobile transceiver, for connecting to a server via the Internet.An identifier as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12, including a Bluetooth radio transceiver. 10. 11. 12. 13.
GB2006611.4A 2020-04-28 2020-05-05 Unmanned aerial vehicle Pending GB2594525A (en)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GBGB2006246.9A GB202006246D0 (en) 2020-04-28 2020-04-28 Unmanned aerial vehicle

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GB2594525A true GB2594525A (en) 2021-11-03

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GB2006611.4A Pending GB2594525A (en) 2020-04-28 2020-05-05 Unmanned aerial vehicle

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Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20160033966A1 (en) * 2014-07-31 2016-02-04 Emmett Farris System and method for controlling drone delivery or pick up during a delivery or pick up phase of drone operation
US20160068264A1 (en) * 2014-09-08 2016-03-10 Qualcomm Incorporated Methods, Systems and Devices for Delivery Drone Security
US20160376031A1 (en) * 2014-07-16 2016-12-29 Airogistic, L.L.C. Methods and apparatus for unmanned aerial vehicle landing and launch
EP3415427A1 (en) * 2017-06-13 2018-12-19 Benchmark Electronics, Inc. Automated landing solution systems and methods
US20200079530A1 (en) * 2017-05-16 2020-03-12 Blacknight Holdings, Llc Mailbox assembly

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20160376031A1 (en) * 2014-07-16 2016-12-29 Airogistic, L.L.C. Methods and apparatus for unmanned aerial vehicle landing and launch
US20160033966A1 (en) * 2014-07-31 2016-02-04 Emmett Farris System and method for controlling drone delivery or pick up during a delivery or pick up phase of drone operation
US20160068264A1 (en) * 2014-09-08 2016-03-10 Qualcomm Incorporated Methods, Systems and Devices for Delivery Drone Security
US20200079530A1 (en) * 2017-05-16 2020-03-12 Blacknight Holdings, Llc Mailbox assembly
EP3415427A1 (en) * 2017-06-13 2018-12-19 Benchmark Electronics, Inc. Automated landing solution systems and methods

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Publication number Publication date
GB202006611D0 (en) 2020-06-17
GB202006246D0 (en) 2020-06-10

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