Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intelligent emergency voice report system and method

1. A system in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for determining and automatically reporting an emergency condition, the system comprising:

an onboard communication device operable, in response to commands, to be tuned to one of a plurality of communication transmission frequencies and to transmit analog signals;

controller in operable communication with the onboard communication device and operable to:

monitor operational parameters of the UAV;

monitor environmental parameters within and external to the UAV;

process the operational parameters and the environmental parameters to determine when the UAV is in an emergency condition, wherein an emergency condition is defined as one in which the UAV may impact other airborne traffic, entities on the ground, or the ground; and

when the UAV is determined to be in an emergency condition, the controller is further operable to:

process the operational parameters to determine how the UAV will respond the emergency condition;

automatically determine a communication transmission frequency;

tune the onboard communication device to the communication transmission frequency;

generate analog voice waveforms that provide information regarding the emergency condition;

supply the analog voice waveforms to the onboard communication device; and

command the onboard communication device to transmit the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller determines how the UAV will respond from one of:

preset automated corrective action commands associated with the emergency condition;

manual commands transmitted from a remote transmitter and received by the controller; and

current UAV operational status and the emergency condition.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operable to determine when to generate updated analog voice waveforms.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operable to determine when to command the onboard communication device to cease transmitting the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operable to:

determine when to tune the onboard communication device to a new communication transmission frequency.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of operational parameter data sources in operable communication with the controller, each operational parameter data source operable to supply operational data representative of the operational parameters.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of operational parameter data sources includes one or more of:

a flight control system, a flight management system, an engine health monitoring system, an inertial reference system (IRS), and attitude and heading reference system (AHRS), a global positioning system, and an air data computer.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of environmental parameter data sources in operable communication with the controller, each environmental parameter data source operable to supply environmental data representative of the environmental parameters.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein plurality of environmental parameter data sources includes one or more of:

a fire detector, a smoke detector, a thermal sensor, a camera, a weather data source, a traffic data source, and a terrain data source.

10. A method for operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising the steps of:

monitoring operational parameters of the UAV;

monitoring environmental parameters within and external to the UAV;

processing the operational parameters and the environmental parameters, in a controller, to determine when the UAV is in an emergency condition, wherein an emergency condition is defined as one in which the UAV may impact other airborne traffic, entities on the ground, or the ground; and

when the controller determines the UAV is in an emergency condition, using the controller to:

process the operational parameters to determine how the UAV will respond the emergency condition;

automatically determine a communication transmission frequency;

tune an onboard communication device to the communication transmission frequency;

generate analog voice waveforms that provide information regarding the emergency condition;

supply the analog voice waveforms to the onboard communication device; and

command the onboard communication device to transmit the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining how the UAV will respond is determined from one of:

preset automated corrective action commands associated with the emergency condition;

manual commands transmitted from a remote transmitter and received by the controller; and

current UAV operational status and the emergency condition.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining when to generate updated analog voice waveforms.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining when to command the onboard communication device to cease transmitting the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining when to tune the onboard communication device to a new communication transmission frequency.

15. A system in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for determining and automatically reporting an emergency condition, the system comprising:

an onboard communication device operable, in response to commands, to be tuned to one of a plurality of communication transmission frequencies and to transmit analog signals;

a plurality of operational parameter data sources, each operational parameter data source operable to supply operational data representative of one or more operational parameters of the UAV;

a plurality of environmental parameter data sources, each environmental parameter data source operable to supply environmental data representative of one or more environmental parameters within and external to the UAV;

a controller in operable communication with the onboard communication device, the plurality of operational parameter data source, and the plurality of environmental data sources, the controller operable to:

monitor the operational parameters;

monitor the environmental parameters;

process the operational parameters and the environmental parameters to determine when the UAV is in an emergency condition, wherein an emergency condition is defined as one in which the UAV may impact other airborne traffic, entities on the ground, or the ground; and

when the UAV is determined to be in an emergency condition, the controller is further operable to:

process the operational parameters to determine how the UAV will respond the emergency condition;

automatically determine a communication transmission frequency;

tune the onboard communication device to the communication transmission frequency;

generate analog voice waveforms that provide information regarding the emergency condition;

supply the analog voice waveforms to the onboard communication device; and

command the onboard communication device to transmit the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of operational parameter data sources includes one or more of:

a flight control system, a flight management system, an engine health monitoring system, an inertial reference system (IRS), and attitude and heading reference system (AHRS), a global positioning system, and an air data computer.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein plurality of environmental parameter data sources includes one or more of:

a fire detector, a smoke detector, a thermal sensor, a camera, a weather data source, a traffic data source, and a terrain data source.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is further operable, upon determining that the UAV is in an emergency condition, to:

determine when to generate updated analog voice waveforms;

determine when to command the onboard communication device to cease transmitting the analog voice waveforms on the communication transmission frequency; and

determine when to tune the onboard communication device to a new communication transmission frequency.