Patent ID: 11932394
Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. A system comprising:
at least one image-capture device onboard an aerial vehicle; and
at least one processor onboard the aerial vehicle and operatively coupled to the at least one image-capture device, at least one processor operative to execute instructions to perform a method that comprises:
receive, from the image-capture device, two or more overlapping images of a landscape underneath the aerial vehicle;
generate, based on the overlapping images, a landing zone heatmap of the landscape, wherein the landing zone heatmap is processed to generate a binary mask based on a threshold value, wherein the binary mask contains pixels with good landing quality and pixels with bad landing quality, and the pixels with bad landing quality are clustered using connected component labelling (CCL) to produce a labeled binary mask;
identify, based on the landing zone heatmap, one or more regions of the landscape having one or more potential landing zones and obstacles;
determine a location of a safe landing zone using a distance transform of the one or more regions of the landscape, wherein the location of the safe landing zone is in an area within one of the potential landing zones that is farthest from the obstacles; and
storing the location of the safe landing zone in a database.