Radio beacon system

1. An adaptive beamforming method for assisting autonomous flight of an UAV on which a drone device ( 200 ) including a radio transceiver is installed, comprising the following steps:

A. setting ( 700 ) beamforming electronic weights w(n, m) to respective initial values w 0 (n, m), with n ranging from 1 to N and m ranging from 1 to M, wherein the beamforming electronic weights w(n, m) are associated to N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ) with N≥2 of a radio beacon device ( 100 ) installed on ground, including one or more radio transceivers configured to communicate with the radio transceiver of the drone device ( 200 ), wherein each antenna array ( 110 , 120 ) has M antenna elements ( 115 , 125 ) with M≥2, wherein the initial values w 0 (n, m) of the beamforming electronic weights w(n, m) direct main beams ( 1150 , 1250 ) of array directivity functions ( 1100 , 1200 ) of the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ) along respective N directions at angles with respect to an axis orthogonal to the ground which are different from each other, whereby, when the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ) receive a signal from the radio transceiver of the drone device ( 200 ), at least one received signal quantity measure M n,k (d n ) that is selected from a group of physical parameters of the received signal related to a distance (d n ) between the drone device ( 200 ) and one of the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ) is different for each one of the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 );

B. computing ( 710 ) a difference vector ΔM′ k having one or more elements which are at least a subset of differences at at least one sampling time t k of said at least one received signal quantity measure between each one of all combinations of two antenna arrays among the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 );

C. comparing ( 720 ) said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k with corresponding one or more target values of a target vector ΔM TRG which define at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 );

D. outputting ( 730 ) a set of one or more commands (C j ) for assisting autonomous flight of said UAV with respect to said at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 ) and sending said set of one or more commands (C j ) to the drone device ( 200 ); and

E. updating ( 740 ) the beamforming electronic weights w(n, m) to maximise said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k at an altitude h and/or in a specific position of the drone device ( 200 ) above the ground, and returning to execute step B until an end event occurs.

2. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein, when returning from step E to execute step B, said at least one received signal quantity measure is changed from a previous execution of step B.

3. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein after returning from step E to execute step B, in step C said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k are compared with corresponding one or more target values of a target vector ΔM TRG which define at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 ) that is different from at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 ) previously defined, whereby a progressively varying trajectory of a flight plan of the UAV is defined.

4. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein said group of physical parameters comprises one or more of received signal strength intensity, phase rotation and time of propagation.

5. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k are all the differences of said at least one received signal quantity measure between each one of all combinations of two antenna arrays among the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ), whereby the difference vector ΔM k has a number of elements equal to the number of 2-combinations of N elements.

6. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein each one of said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k is an average, optionally a weighted average, E[ΔM q (p)] over time of a time sequence of differences of said at least one received signal quantity measure between two antenna arrays among the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ).

7. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more target values of the target vector ΔM TRG depend on the altitude h of the drone device ( 200 ) above the ground and/or a time according to a flight plan of the UAV.

8. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 ) is a space volume and/or a surface and/or a line and/or a single point.

9. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one delimited zone (DZI 1 ; DZI 2 ) varies with altitude h over the ground and/or with time.

10. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein in step E the beamforming electronic weights w(n, m) are updated by computing them according to:

a) retrieval from a look-up table; and/or

b) a recursive technique operating for optimising an objective cost function.

11. The adaptive beamforming method according to claim 1 , wherein in step E the end event is a landing of the UAV or achievement of a stable equilibrium of said one or more elements of the difference vector ΔM′ k with said corresponding one or more target values of the target vector ΔM TRG or an end of drone mission or an exit of the drone device ( 200 ) from a signal transmission range of the N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ).

12. A radio beacon system configured to assist autonomous flight of one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), wherein the radio beacon system comprises:

a drone device ( 200 ), configured to be installed on an UAV and including a radio transceiver, and

a radio beacon device ( 100 ), configured to be installed on ground and including N antenna arrays ( 110 , 120 ) with N≥2, one or more radio transceivers configured to communicate with the radio transceiver of the drone device ( 200 ), and at least one processing unit ( 130 ), wherein each antenna array ( 110 , 120 ) has M antenna elements ( 115 , 125 ) with M≥2 associated to respective beamforming electronic weights w(n, m), with n ranging from 1 to N and m ranging from 1 to M,

wherein said at least one processing unit ( 130 ) is configured to perform the adaptive beamforming method for assisting autonomous flight of an UAV according to claim 1 .