AERIAL VEHICLE
    1.
    发明公开
    AERIAL VEHICLE 审中-公开

    公开(公告)号:US20240286751A1

    公开(公告)日:2024-08-29

    申请号:US18507891

    申请日:2023-11-13

    申请人: VERITY AG

    摘要: According to the present invention there is provided an aerial vehicle that is operable to fly, the aerial vehicle having at least a first and second subsystem that are operably connected, wherein the first subsystem comprises a first flight module, first one or more effectors that are selectively operable to generate a first force sufficient to cause the aerial vehicle to fly; and the second subsystem comprises a second flight module, second one or more effectors that are selectively operable to generate a second force sufficient to cause the aerial vehicle to fly; such that the first or second subsystem can be selectively used to fly the aerial vehicle not relying on the one or more effectors of the other subsystem. There is further provided a corresponding method for controlling an aerial vehicle.

    METHODS OF TAKING A MEASUREMENT
    2.
    发明公开

    公开(公告)号:US20240199207A1

    公开(公告)日:2024-06-20

    申请号:US18589332

    申请日:2024-02-27

    申请人: Verity AG

    摘要: According to the present invention there is provided a method of taking a measurement using a sensor mounted on an aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle having one or more propellers and one or more motors which are selectively operable to drive the one or more propellers to rotate to cause the vehicle to fly, and a sensor mounted on the aerial vehicle, the method comprising the steps of, operating the one or more motors to drive the one or more propellers to cause the vehicle to fly; at a first time instant, slowing down or turning off said one or more motors; while the one or more motors are slowed down or turned off, taking a measurement using said sensor; at a second time instant, which is after the measurement has been taken using the sensor, operating the one or more motors again to drive the one or more propellers to cause the vehicle to fly. There is further provided a corresponding aerial vehicle.

    Methods and systems for estimating the orientation of an object

    公开(公告)号:US11681303B2

    公开(公告)日:2023-06-20

    申请号:US17258134

    申请日:2019-07-08

    申请人: Verity AG

    摘要: The system receives position information in both an internal coordinate frame and an external coordinate frame. The system uses a comparison of position information in these frames to determine orientation information. The system determines one or more orientation hypotheses, and analyzes the position information based on these hypotheses. The system may include on-board accelerometers, gyroscopes, or both that provide the measurements in the internal coordinate frame. These measurements may be integrated or otherwise processed to determine position, velocity, or both. Measurements in the external frame are provided by GPS sensors or other positioning systems. Position information is transformed to a common coordinate frame, and an error metric is determined. Based on the error metric, the system estimates a likelihood metric for each hypothesis, and determines a resulting hypothesis based on the maximum likelihood or a combination of likelihoods.

    Distributed localization systems and methods and self-localizing apparatus

    公开(公告)号:US11378985B2

    公开(公告)日:2022-07-05

    申请号:US17131536

    申请日:2020-12-22

    申请人: Verity AG

    摘要: A transceiver network comprises first, second, and third transceivers that are configured to transmit signals that are spread over a bandwidth that exceeds the lesser of 125 MHz and 5% of an arithmetic center frequency of the signals. An additional transceiver with at least a partially unknown relative position can be added to the transceiver network. The additional transceiver receives the signals from the first, second, and third transceivers and timestamps the receptions. A position calibration unit is configured to compute the position of the additional transceiver relative to the first, second, and third transceivers based on the reception timestamps and known relative locations of the first, second, and third transceivers. The additional transceiver can be configured to transmit (e.g., in a transmission time slot) an additional signal as part of the transceiver network.

    Systems and methods for charging, transporting, and operating flying machines

    公开(公告)号:US11214368B2

    公开(公告)日:2022-01-04

    申请号:US17131055

    申请日:2020-12-22

    申请人: VERITY AG

    IPC分类号: B64C39/02 B64F1/16 G08G5/00

    摘要: A flying machine storage container is provided that comprises multiple charging stations and a clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism is configured to secure flying machines in the charging stations and securely close charging circuits between the storage container and the flying machines. A system for launching flying machines is also provided. The system comprises two regions and a transition region between the two regions. The two regions each constrain the positioning of a flying machine and the transition region enables a flying machine to move from the first region to the second region to reach an exit. A flying machine having sufficient performance capabilities will be able to successfully launch. Centralized and decentralized communication architectures are also provided for communicating data between a central control system, multiple storage containers, and multiple stored flying machines stored at each of the storage containers.

    Systems and methods for charging, transporting, and operating flying machines

    公开(公告)号:US10899445B2

    公开(公告)日:2021-01-26

    申请号:US16080987

    申请日:2017-02-28

    申请人: VERITY AG

    IPC分类号: B64C39/02 B64F1/16 G08G5/00

    摘要: A flying machine storage container is provided that comprises multiple charging stations and a clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism is configured to secure flying machines in the charging stations and securely close charging circuits between the storage container and the flying machines. A system for launching flying machines is also provided. The system comprises two regions and a transition region between the two regions. The two regions each constrain the positioning of a flying machine and the transition region enables a flying machine to move from the first region to the second region to reach an exit. A flying machine having sufficient performance capabilities will be able to successfully launch. Centralized and decentralized communication architectures are also provided for communicating data between a central control system, multiple storage containers, and multiple stored flying machines stored at each of the storage containers.

    Methods of taking a measurement
    9.
    发明授权

    公开(公告)号:US11932397B2

    公开(公告)日:2024-03-19

    申请号:US17945749

    申请日:2022-09-15

    申请人: Verity AG

    摘要: According to the present invention there is provided a method of taking a measurement using a sensor mounted on an aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle having one or more propellers and one or more motors which are selectively operable to drive the one or more propellers to rotate to cause the vehicle to fly, and a sensor mounted on the aerial vehicle, the method comprising the steps of, operating the one or more motors to drive the one or more propellers to cause the vehicle to fly; at a first time instant, slowing down or turning off said one or more motors; while the one or more motors are slowed down or turned off, taking a measurement using said sensor; at a second time instant, which is after the measurement has been taken using the sensor, operating the one or more motors again to drive the one or more propellers to cause the vehicle to fly. There is further provided a corresponding aerial vehicle.

    SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A LIGHT SOURCE FOR ILLUMINATING A SCENE OF INTEREST

    公开(公告)号:US20240074018A1

    公开(公告)日:2024-02-29

    申请号:US18270388

    申请日:2021-12-13

    申请人: Verity AG

    摘要: The invention relates to a method for controlling a light source (7), the method using (a) at least one pose estimate (1) of a camera (8) configured to capture one or more images of a scene of interest (13) which comprises at least one landmark (9), as said light source is operated to emit light which illuminates said scene of interest, (b) a landmark map (2) comprising at least 3D location information of a plurality of landmarks comprising the at least one landmark in the scene of interest, (c) an illumination model (3) describing a relationship between an emission illumination power and reflection illumination power, wherein said emission illumination power is the power of light emitted by the light source (7) to illuminate said scene of interest, and said reflection illumination power is the illumination power of light reflected by one or more landmarks in said scene of interest and received by the camera, and (d) a predefined threshold reflection illumination power (4). The method comprises the following steps: (a) determining (5), for at least one of the plurality of landmarks, at least one optimized emission illumination power of light (6) to be emitted by the light source, and an illumination time course (6) during which the light source should be operated to emit light which has an emission illumination power which is equal to the at least one optimized emission illumination power, using (i) the at least one pose estimate (1) of the camera, (ii) the 3D location information of the at least one of the plurality of landmarks, (iii) the illumination model (3), and (iv) the predefined threshold reflection illumination power (4); and (b) operating the light source (7) to emit light which has an emission illumination power which is equal to the at least one optimized emission illumination power (6), for a time period which is equal to the determined illumination time course (6).