Air traffic control monitoring systems and methods for unmanned aerial vehicles
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) air traffic control and monitoring systems and methods implemented by a consolidated system include communicating with a plurality of servers each configured to communicate with a plurality of UAVs in a geographic or zone coverage; consolidating data from the plurality of servers to provide a visualization of a larger geography comprising a plurality of geographic or zone coverages; providing the visualization via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and performing one or more functions via the GUI for air traffic control and monitoring at any of a high-level and an individual UAV level.
1. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) air traffic control and monitoring method implemented by a consolidated system, the method comprising:
communicating with an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system which is executed on a plurality of servers, wherein the ATC system is configured to communicate with a plurality of UAVs in a geographic or zone coverage;
consolidating data from the plurality of servers to provide a visualization of a larger geography comprising a plurality of geographic or zone coverages;
providing the visualization via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and
performing one or more functions via the GUI for air traffic control and monitoring at any of a high-level and an individual UAV level.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visualization comprises a heat map of congestion at the larger geography and a view of individual UAVs via a drill-down.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the individual UAV level, the consolidating the data comprises obtaining a first set of data and, for the high-level, the consolidating the data comprises obtaining a second set of data which is a summary or digest of the first set of data.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first set of data comprises speed, altitude, location, direction, weather and obstacle reporting from individual UAVs.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the individual UAV level, the air traffic control and monitoring comprises any of flight plan management; separation assurance; real-time control; monitoring of speed, altitude, location, and direction; weather and obstacle reporting; landing services, and
wherein, for the high-level, the air traffic control and monitoring comprises any of no-fly zones, congestion control, traffic management, and hold patterns.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of UAVs are configured to constrain flight based on coverage of a plurality of cell towers, wherein the constrained flight comprises one or more of pre-configuring the plurality of UAVs to operate only where the coverage exists, monitoring cell signal strength by the plurality of UAVs and adjusting flight based therein, and a combination thereof.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of UAVs are configured for autonomous operation through the air traffic control.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of UAVs each comprise circuitry adapted to communicate via a plurality of cell networks to the plurality of servers.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of cell networks comprise a first wireless network and a second wireless network each provide bidirectional communication between the UAV and the plurality of servers for redundancy with one of the first wireless network and the second wireless network operating as primary and another as backup.
10. A system, the system comprising:
a network interface and one or more processors communicatively coupled to one another; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
communicate with an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system via the network interface, wherein the ATC system is executed on a plurality of servers, wherein the ATC system is configured to communicate with a plurality of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a geographic or zone coverage;
consolidate data from the plurality of servers to provide a visualization of a larger geography comprising a plurality of geographic or zone coverages;
provide the visualization via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and
perform one or more functions via the GUI for air traffic control and monitoring at any of a high-level and an individual UAV level.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the visualization comprises a heat map of congestion at the larger geography and a view of individual UAVs via a drill-down.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein, for the individual UAV level, the data is consolidated by obtaining a first set of data and, for the high-level the data is consolidated by obtaining a second set of data which is a summary or digest of the first set of data.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first set of data comprises speed, altitude, location, direction, weather and obstacle reporting from individual UAVs.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein, for the individual UAV level, the air traffic control and monitoring comprises any of flight plan management; separation assurance; real-time control; monitoring of speed, altitude, location, and direction; weather and obstacle reporting; landing services, and
wherein, for the high-level, the air traffic control and monitoring comprises any of no-fly zones, congestion control, traffic management, and hold patterns.
15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of UAVs are configured to constrain flight based on coverage of a plurality of cell towers, wherein the constrained flight comprises one or more of pre-configuring the plurality of UAVs to operate only where the coverage exists, monitoring cell signal strength by the plurality of UAVs and adjusting flight based therein, and a combination thereof.
16. The system of claim 10 , wherein one or more of the plurality of UAVs are configured for autonomous operation through the air traffic control.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of UAVs each comprise circuitry adapted to communicate via a plurality of cell networks to the plurality of servers.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of cell networks comprise a first wireless network and a second wireless network each provide bidirectional communication between the UAV and the plurality of servers for redundancy with one of the first wireless network and the second wireless network operating as primary and another as backup.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform steps of:
communicating with an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system which is executed on a plurality of servers, wherein the ATC system is configured to communicate with a plurality of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a geographic or zone coverage;
consolidating data from the plurality of servers to provide a visualization of a larger geography comprising a plurality of geographic or zone coverages;
providing the visualization via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and
performing one or more functions via the GUI for air traffic control and monitoring at any of a high-level and an individual UAV level.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visualization comprises a heat map of congestion at the larger geography and a view of individual UAVs via a drill-down.