The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 22, 2022
Filed:
Aug. 14, 2019
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Gary A. Ray, Issaquah, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for tracking swarms of flying objects for collision avoidance using area-scanning optical systems. Images of the volume of space forward of an aircraft in flight are captured using one or more cameras and then the images are processed to determine whether the image data indicates the presence of a swarm. The camera-based collision avoidance system is configured to detect and angularly track small objects flying in a swarm at sufficiently far ranges to cue or alert the flight control system onboard an autonomous or piloted aircraft to avoid the swarm. A swarm angle tracking algorithm is used to recognize swarms of flying objects that move in unison in a certain direction by detecting a consistent characteristic of the pixel values in captured images which is indicative of swarm motion.