LOW-LIGHT AND NO-LIGHT AERIAL NAVIGATION

• Main Authors: HOLTZ, Kristen Marie, CROSS, Gareth Benoit, MARTIROSYAN, Hayk, MAKINENI, Anurag
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 21.04.2022
• Subjects: AEROPLANES; AIRCRAFT; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; HELICOPTERS; INDICATING PRESENCE, ABSENCE, OR DIRECTION, OF MOVEMENT; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; MEASURING LINEAR OR ANGULAR SPEED, ACCELERATION, DECELERATION,OR SHOCK; NAVIGATION; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SIGNALLING; SURVEYING; TESTING; TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS; TRANSPORTING

In some examples, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may receive location information via the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver and may receive acceleration information via an onboard accelerometer. The UAV may determine a first measurement of acceleration of the UAV in a navigation frame of reference based on information from the accelerometer prior to or during takeoff. In addition, the UAV may determine a second measurement of acceleration of the UAV in a world frame of reference based on the location information received via the GNSS receiver prior to or during takeoff. The UAV may determine a relative heading of the UAV based on the first and second acceleration measurements. The determined relative heading may be used for navigation of the UAV at least one of during or after takeoff of the UAV.