IP Library Granted Patent US 12,585,271
Granted Patent B2
US 12,585,271 · App. 17/837,594 · Granted Mar 24, 2026

Active geofencing system and method for seamless aircraft operations in allowable airspace regions

Inventors: Bryan M. Krawiec (Ashburn, VA); Jason J. Jakusz (Nixa, MO)
Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
G05D1/0077B64C39/024G05D1/106G08G5/21G08G5/34G08G5/55G08G5/57G08G5/59H04W4/021B64U2201/10
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,585,271
App. No.
17/837,594
Granted
Mar 24, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system and method for integrity monitoring acquire one or more boundaries, each boundary of the one or more boundaries based on at least one fallback action of one or more fallback actions. The system and method receive situational data comprising at least one of environmental data or autonomous vehicle data. The system and method generate, using a monitor module configured to monitor an autonomous vehicle, one or more boundary violation determinations. The system and method generate a fallback status based on at least the one or more boundary violation determinations. The fallback status being configured to correspond to a determination of whether to override a primary control output.

Claims (27)

1 . A system for integrity monitoring during a flight of an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more wireless communication devices configured for remote communication;

one or more sensors configured to be used on the autonomous vehicle to receive situational data comprising environmental data and autonomous vehicle data; and

one or more controllers comprising one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in a memory, the set of program instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:

acquire, in real time, one or more boundaries defined relative to the autonomous vehicle from a multi-dimensional dataset comprising a lookup table comprising the one or more boundaries, wherein the acquiring is based on one or more determined values of one or more parameters, wherein each boundary encapsulates one or more pre-determined simulated trajectories of a path of the autonomous vehicle, wherein each boundary defines a space for the autonomous vehicle to perform the one or more pre-determined simulated trajectories and is based on at least one fallback action of one or more fallback actions, wherein each fallback action comprises an aircraft maneuver of the autonomous vehicle, and wherein each boundary is based on a fallback boundary and an additional margin;

receive the situational data comprising the environmental data and the autonomous vehicle data;

generate, in real time during the flight of the autonomous vehicle, using a monitor module configured to monitor the autonomous vehicle, one or more boundary violation determinations indicative of an intersection of at least one of an obstacle or a zone with a boundary of the one or more boundaries and an inability to perform a particular fallback action corresponding to the boundary;

generate, in real time during the flight of the autonomous vehicle, a fallback status based on at least the one or more boundary violation determinations, the fallback status being configured to correspond to a determination to override a primary control output, the primary control output configured to be used to control the autonomous vehicle; and

control, based on at least the fallback status, the autonomous vehicle to perform the aircraft maneuver of the fallback action.

2 . The system of claim 1 , each boundary of the one or more boundaries being based on a simulated performance of the autonomous vehicle performing a fallback action under one or more simulated values of the one or more parameters.

3 . The system of claim 1 , the one or more parameters comprising at least one of velocity, or bank angle.

4 . The system of claim 1 , the at least one fallback action comprising at least one of a bank left fallback action or a bank right fallback action.

5 . The system of claim 1 , the set of program instructions further configured to cause the one or more processors to:

inflate each boundary of the one or more boundaries based on one or more inflation parameters.

6 . The system of claim 5 , the one or more inflation parameters comprising an expected flight error parameter.

7 . A method for integrity monitoring during a flight of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

acquiring, in real time, one or more boundaries defined relative to the autonomous vehicle from a multi-dimensional dataset comprising a lookup table comprising the one or more boundaries, wherein the acquiring is based on one or more determined values of one or more parameters, wherein each boundary encapsulates one or more pre-determined simulated trajectories of a path of the autonomous vehicle, wherein each boundary defines a space for the autonomous vehicle to perform the one or more pre-determined simulated trajectories and is based on at least one fallback action of one or more fallback actions, wherein each fallback action comprises an aircraft maneuver of the autonomous vehicle, and wherein each boundary is based on a fallback boundary and an additional margin;

receiving situational data comprising environmental data and autonomous vehicle data, wherein the receiving the situational data is received using one or more sensors on the autonomous vehicle;

generating, in real time during the flight of the autonomous vehicle, using a monitor module configured to monitor the autonomous vehicle, one or more boundary violation determinations indicative of an intersection of at least one of an obstacle or a zone with a boundary of the one or more boundaries and an inability to perform a particular fallback action corresponding to the boundary;

generating, in real time during the flight of the autonomous vehicle, a fallback status based on at least the one or more boundary violation determinations, the fallback status being configured to correspond to a determination to override a primary control output, the primary control output configured to be used to control the autonomous vehicle; and

controlling, based on at least the fallback status, the autonomous vehicle to perform the aircraft maneuver of the fallback action.

8 . The method of claim 7 , each boundary of the one or more boundaries being based on a simulated performance of the autonomous vehicle performing a fallback action under one or more simulated values of the one or more parameters.

9 . The method of claim 7 , the one or more parameters comprising at least one of velocity, or bank angle.

10 . The method of claim 7 , the at least one fallback action comprising at least one of a bank left fallback action or a bank right fallback action.

11 . The method of claim 7 , the method further comprising:

inflating each boundary of the one or more boundaries based on one or more inflation parameters.

12 . The method of claim 11 , the one or more inflation parameters comprising an expected flight error parameter.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 10, 2022
From: KRAWIEC, BRYAN M.; JAKUSZ, JASON J.
To: ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC.
Reel/Frame 060169/0333 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230400852A1 · Dec 14, 2023
References Cited (40)
US 9466219B1 · Stefani et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9613536B1 · Wolford et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9715235B2 · McGrew et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9927807B1 · Ganjoo · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10001776B2 · Rangarajan · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10032111B1 · Bertram et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10394240B1 · Pounds · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10580310B2 · Cruyningen · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10656643B1 · Bertram et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10710602B2 · Goldberg · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10788325B1 · Lenhardt et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10935938B1 · Bertram et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 10962972B2 · Koopman et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11042673B1 · McLean et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11107001B1 · Bertram et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11175657B1 · Bloom et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11199859B2 · Charalambides et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20160307447A1 · Johnson et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20180231972A1 · Woon et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180255425A1 · Trevathan · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20190088145A1 · Chambers et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190361443A1 · Linscott · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20200066171A1 · Prosser · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200324899A1 · Geng et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20210080948A1 · Franco et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20210375147A1 · Thomassey · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210380122A1 · Jones et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
CN 105473408B · 2018 [cited by examiner]
EP 1240636B1 · 2004 [cited by examiner]
KR 20190002740A · 2018 [cited by examiner]
WO WO2019122842A1 · 2018 [cited by examiner]
WO 2021079108A1 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2021259493 · 2021 [cited by examiner]
Yanni Kouskoulas, Rosa Wu, Joshua Brul{acute over ( )}e, Daniel Genin, Aurora Schmidt and T. J. Machado, Good Fences Make Good Neighbors USing Formally Verified Sage Trajectories to Design a Predictive Geofence Algorith… [cited by examiner]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/684,095, filed Apr. 6, 2022, Krawiec et al. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/704,715, filed Apr. 29, 2022, Papke et al. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/704,793, filed Mar. 31, 2022, Krawiec et al. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/704,838, filed May 3, 2022, Krawiec et al. [cited by applicant]
Mia Stevens (2019) Geofencing for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Complex Low Altitude Airspace. Thesis: University of Michigan. [cited by applicant]
Sun, Yuan. 2021. “Autonomous Integrity Monitoring for Relative Navigation of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” Remote Sensing 13, No. 8: 1483. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081483. [cited by applicant]