Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Unmanned aerial vehicle physical metrics acquisition
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Application No.: US14734894Application Date: 2015-06-09
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Publication No.: US09656749B1Publication Date: 2017-05-23
- Inventor: Jon T. Hanlon
- Applicant: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
- Applicant Address: US WA Seattle
- Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
- Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US WA Seattle
- Agency: Lee & Hayes, PLLC
- Main IPC: G01C23/00
- IPC: G01C23/00 ; G05D1/00 ; G05D3/00 ; G06F7/00 ; G06F17/00 ; B64C39/02 ; G01M1/10 ; G01M1/12

Abstract:
A weight distribution associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may be determined prior to dispatch of the UAV and/or after the UAV returns from operation (e.g., a flight). In some embodiments, one or more UAVs may be placed on or proximate to a physical metrics acquisition (PMA) device. The PMA device may include a grid or array of load cells may be used to determine a distribution of weight of the UAV at three or more points associated with the UAV. The distribution of weight may be used generate analytics, which may include a total weight of a vehicle, a center of mass of the vehicle (in two or more dimensions), power requirements of the UAV for a given flight task (e.g., how much battery power the UAV requires, etc.), and/or other analytics. In various embodiments, the PMA device may perform moment of inertia tests for the UAV.
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