Long-range drone remote-control equipment

1. A unit for the bidirectional transmission of data between a remote-control equipment ( 16 ) and a remote drone ( 10 ), said data comprising piloting commands, flight parameters and a video flow, this unit including:

a drone ( 10 ) comprising:

piloting circuits;

an on-board video camera ( 14 ); and

a long-range wireless transceiver module ( 58 ), coupled to the piloting circuits and to the on-board video camera;

a portable device of the tablet type ( 18 ) comprising:

a visual display screen ( 22 );

a software module ( 70 ′) including a drone piloting and image visualization applicative module ( 76 ′); and

a short-range wireless transceiver module ( 50 ); and

a remote-control console ( 20 ), comprising:

a support ( 24 ) receiving the tablet;

a short-range wireless transceiver module ( 48 ), interfaced with the short-range wireless transceiver module ( 50 ) of the tablet;

a long-range wireless transceiver module ( 54 ), interfaced with the long-range wireless transceiver module ( 58 ) of the drone; and

levers and buttons ( 28 , 30 ) adapted to generate flight commands as a function of actions exerted on these levers and buttons,

this unit being characterized in that:

the console ( 20 ) comprises a software module ( 70 ) including a bidirectional routing module ( 62 ; 78 ) for the exchange said data, this routing module being coupled to the short-range ( 48 ) and long-range ( 54 ) wireless transceiver modules as well as to the levers and buttons ( 28 , 30 );

the short-range wireless transceiver module ( 48 ) of the console ( 20 ) is interfaced with the short-range wireless transceiver module ( 50 ) of the tablet to form a short-range tablet local network (LAN 1 );

the long-range wireless transceiver module ( 54 ) of the console ( 20 ) is interfaced with the long-range wireless transceiver module ( 58 ) of the drone to form a long-range drone local network (LAN 2 );

the short-range tablet local network (LAN 1 ) and the long-range drone local network (LAN 2 ) are distinct wireless networks and operate on non-shared channels;

the short-range tablet local network (LAN 1 ) is a network operating according to a non-modified standard protocol, whereas the long-range drone local network (LAN 2 ) is a network operating according to a non-standard dedicated protocol, wherein the non-standard dedicated protocol of the long-range drone local network (LAN 2 ) is a protocol providing a waiting time for the frame receipt acknowledgment that is longer than the value specified by the standard protocol and further wherein the short-range tablet local network (LAN 1 ) and the long-range drone local network (LAN 2 ) are both networks according to IEEE 802.11; and

said data are exchanged:

between the drone ( 10 ) and the tablet ( 18 ) through the tablet local network (LAN 1 ) interfaced with the drone local network (LAN 2 ) via the routing module ( 62 ; 78 ); and

between the levers and buttons ( 28 , 30 ) and the drone ( 10 ) through the drone local network (LAN 2 ) via the routing module ( 62 ; 78 ).

2. The unit of claim 1 ,

wherein the console software module ( 70 ) comprises a series of software layers including:

a first operating system core ( 72 );

a first operating system over-layer ( 74 ); and

a first applicative layer ( 76 ), containing said routing module ( 78 ),

and wherein the tablet software module ( 70 ′) also comprises a series of software layers including:

a second operating system core ( 72 ′);

a second operating system over-layer ( 74 ′); and

a second applicative layer ( 76 ′), similar to said first applicative layer ( 76 ) of the console software module, but containing no active routing module.

3. The unit of claim 2 , wherein the second applicative layer ( 76 ′) of the tablet software module ( 70 ′) also contains a second routing module ( 78 ′), similar to said first routing module ( 78 ) of the console software module, but this routing module being deactivated.

4. The unit of claim 1 , wherein:

the long-range wireless transceiver module ( 58 ) of the drone is configured as an access point AP and the long-range wireless transceiver module ( 54 ) of the console is configured as a mobile station STA, and

the short-range wireless transceiver module ( 48 ) of the console is configured as an access point AP and the short-range wireless transceiver module ( 50 ) of the tablet is configured as a mobile station STA.

5. The unit of claim 1 , wherein the console further comprises:

a short-range omnidirectional antenna system coupled to the short-range wireless transceiver module; and

a long-range directional antenna system coupled to the long-range wireless transceiver module.

6. The unit of claim 1 , wherein:

the console further comprises indicators ( 32 ) for displaying drone state information, such state information being transmitted from the drone ( 10 ) to the routing module ( 62 ) of the console through the drone local network (LAN 2 ); and

the routing module ( 62 ) is adapted to transmit the state information:

to the indicators ( 32 ) of the console, for a visualization by means of these indicators, and

to the tablet ( 18 ) through the tablet local network (LAN 1 ), for a visualization on the tablet screen ( 22 ).

7. The unit of claim 1 , wherein the console further comprises means ( 64 , 66 ) for coupling the routing module to an auxiliary visualization and/or of data input/output equipment ( 80 ).