Unmanned vehicle management systems and methods
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for managing the operation of unmanned vehicles within policy managed locations and/or areas. In some embodiments, an unmanned vehicle may issue an operator signed request to enter a policy managed area and/or use a certain sensor system within a policy managed area to an unmanned vehicle management system. The unmanned vehicle management system may verify the operator's identity and associated rights with a trusted authority, identify a policy associated with the policy managed area, and enforce the identified policy in connection with generating a response to the request. In this manner, the use of unmanned vehicles and/or associated systems may be managed in accordance with certain policies and/or rules associated with a particular operating location and/or area.
1 . A method for managing the operation of a vehicle performed by a vehicle management system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method, the method comprising:
receiving a control request to operate the vehicle within a policy managed location, the control request comprising a first digital signature associated with the vehicle;
generating, based on the control request, an authentication request, the authentication request comprising the first digital signature and an indication of the policy managed location;
transmitting the authentication request to a trusted service;
receiving an authentication response from the trusted service, the authentication response comprising a first policy associated with the policy managed location;
generating a control signal based on the first policy associated with the policy managed location; and
issuing the control signal to at least one subsystem of the vehicle.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy managed location is associated with at least one of a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control request comprises a current position of the vehicle.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control request comprises an intended future position of the vehicle.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control request comprises an intended path of travel of the vehicle.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first policy indicates whether use of a subsystem of the vehicle is permitted within the policy managed location.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the control request comprises a request to use the subsystem of the vehicle within the policy managed location.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the subsystem comprises a sensor system.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the sensor system comprises a camera system.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital signature associated with the vehicle comprises a digital signature associated with an operator the vehicle.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital signature associated with the vehicle comprises a digital signature associated with a user of the vehicle.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication response comprises an indication of a verified identity of an operator of the vehicle generated by the trusted service based on the first digital signature.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication response further comprises a second policy associated with an operator of the vehicle.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein generating the control response is further based on the second policy.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital signature comprises a digital signature generated using a private cryptographic key.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication response comprises a second digital signature associated with the trusted service.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises an unmanned vehicle.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises at least one of an aerial vehicle, a land vehicle, an overwater vessel, and an underwater vessel.
19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises at least one of an autonomous operation vehicle, a semi-autonomous operation vehicle, and a remote-control operation vehicle.