Patent ID: 9696430
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: G01C,G01S,G05D

Claim:
1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having one or more sensors disposed thereon, the UAV for determining an unknown location of a target located within a designated area of interest, but out of range of the one or more sensors, the UAV comprising: a position determination unit to generate location data concerning the UAV's position; a sensor to obtain sensor data associated with the target; a flight path determination unit operatively coupled to receive the location data from the position determination unit and sensor data from at least one of the one or more sensors, and in response to the location data and the sensor data, the flight path determination unit selects a flight path directed by a randomized flight process to search the designated area of interest and a geo-localization flight process to home in on the target, wherein the geo-localization flight process comprises a simplex minimization process, wherein the flight path determination unit transitions from the randomized flight process to the geo-localization flight process after three or more locations are identified having associated confidence levels exceeding a first pre-determined threshold, wherein the three or more locations form an initial simplex triangle having a geometric spread exceeding a second predetermined threshold, wherein the initial simplex triangle is provided as input to the simplex minimization process; and a flight controller operatively coupled to the flight path determination unit to fly the UAV along the selected flight path.