Patent Description:
Unmanned aerial vehicle is called UAV for short, which has been applied to some specific scenarios and can carry out tasks such as aerial photographing, unmanned detection and reconnaissance, surveying and mapping, highway survey, urban planning, ecological and environmental monitoring, scientific investigation, oil exploration, aerial remote sensing, border patrol, forest fire prevention and disaster assessment.

In order to further expand the application scope of UAV, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) proposed a research on enabling the demand-satisfying service provided for a UAV by a cellular network to be more standardized in the discussion of a "UAV enhanced support" project. In related arts, data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller is usually realized through a Wireless-Fidelity (WIFI) network. The WIFI network has defects including channel occupation, great interference, limited coverage and the like. Therefore, the performance of data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller is low. Data transmission based on a cellular network has features such as continuous coverage and guaranteed data transmission. However, no solution has yet been proposed in related arts to address how to improve the performance of data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller through a cellular network and a WIFI network.

In order to overcome the problems existing in the related arts, the embodiments of the disclosure provide a data transmission method and apparatus as well as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to improve the efficiency of data transmission between a UAV controller and a UAV through a WIFI network and a cellular network.

The present invention is defined in the amended claims.

The technical solution provided by the embodiments of the disclosure may have the following beneficial effects:
The mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by a UAV are two independent communication networks. By adopting the above technical solution, the UAV can dynamically adjust, based on the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the UAV, the transmission link for sending data to be transmitted, thus better integrating the resources of the mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the UAV, and solving the problem that the data transmission performance is low, which is caused by data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller through a WIFI network in the related arts.

It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are only exemplary and explanatory and shall not limit the disclosure.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this description, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

The implementations set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with aspects related to the disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

<FIG> is a flowchart of a data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment. <FIG> is a scenario diagram of a data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment. The data transmission method may be applied to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). As illustrated in <FIG>, the data transmission method includes the following steps <NUM>-<NUM>:
In step <NUM>, based on signal strengths of a mobile network and a WIFI network accessed by a UAV, a transmission link for data to be transmitted is determined.

In an embodiment, the UAV may directly send data to a UAV controller through a first link in the WIFI network, or the UAV may send data to a base station through a second link in the mobile network, and then the base station sends the data to the UAV controller.

In an embodiment, the data to be transmitted may be a data packet to be sent to the UAV controller cached in the buffer of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) of the UAV.

In an embodiment, the WIFI network is a free network and the mobile network is a charged network, therefore, when the signal strength of the WIFI network is higher, the first link in the WIFI network may be preferentially determined as the transmission link, while when the signal strength of the WIFI network is lower and the signal strength of the mobile network is higher, both the first link corresponding to the WIFI network and a second link corresponding to the mobile network may be determined as the transmission link or only the second link corresponding to the mobile network is determined as the transmission link. Based on the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the UAV, the description of the embodiments illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG> may be refered to for the specific implementation mode of determining the transmission link for the data to be transmitted, which is thus not described in detail here.

In step <NUM>, the data to be transmitted is sent through the transmission link.

In an embodiment, after the transmission link for the data to be transmitted is determined, the data to be transmitted may be sent through the transmission link.

In an exemplary scenario, as illustrated in <FIG>, exemplary description is made by taking that the mobile network is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and the base station is an evolved NodeB (eNB) as an example (the mobile network is not limited to the LTE network, which may also be <NUM> or other cellular networks). In the scenario illustrated in <FIG>, an eNB <NUM>, a UAV <NUM> and a UAV controller <NUM> are shown. The UAV <NUM> is located within the coverage of the eNB <NUM>, and is within the same WIFI network as the UAV controller <NUM>. Based on the signal strengths of the WIFI network and the mobile network, in one case, the UAV <NUM> may transmit data to the UAV controller <NUM> through a first link <NUM> in the WIFI network. When the signal strength of the WIFI network is low, part or all of the data may be transmitted to the eNB <NUM> through a second link <NUM> in the mobile network in order to improve the efficiency of data transmission of the UAV <NUM>, and then this part or all of data may be forwarded by the eNB <NUM> to the UAV controller <NUM>. The efficiency of data transmission between the UAV <NUM> and the UAV controller <NUM> is effectively improved.

The mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the UAV can be two independent communication networks. In the embodiment, through the above steps <NUM> and <NUM>, the UAV can dynamically adjust, based on the signal strengths of the mobile network and WIFI network accessed by the UAV, the transmission link for the data to be transmitted, thus better integrating the resources of the mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the UAV, and solving the problem that the data transmission performance is caused to be relatively low due to data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller through a WIFI network in the related arts.

Please refer to the following embodiments for details on how to transmit data.

The technical solution provided by the embodiments of the disclosure will be described below through the following specific embodiments.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another data transmission method, which is not part of the present invention and is present for illustration purpose only. The example is exemplarily described by using the above method provided by the embodiments of the disclosure, taking that the UAV determines the transmission link based on the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network and transmits the data as an example and referring to <FIG>. As illustrated in <FIG>, the method includes the following steps:.

The first strength threshold may be a relatively high value. For example, the first strength threshold is -60dB. When the signal strength of the WIFI network is higher than the first strength threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the WIFI network is very good and is enough to transmit the service data of the UAV, so only the first link corresponding to WIFI network may be determined as the transmission link.

In step <NUM>, in a case that the signal strength of the WIFI network is lower than a second strength threshold and the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than a fourth strength threshold, a second link corresponding to the mobile network is determined as the transmission link, the data to be transmitted is sent through the second link, and the process ends.

When the signal strength of the WIFI network is lower than the second strength threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the WIFI network is relatively poor and the data transmission rate is very low; when the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than the fourth strength threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the mobile network is very good, so only the second link in the mobile network may be determined as the transmission link, in order to avoid data loss caused by data transmission through the WIFI network.

In step <NUM>, in a case that the signal strength of the WIFI network is lower than the first strength threshold and higher than the second strength threshold, and the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than the third strength threshold and not higher than the fourth strength threshold, the first link corresponding to the WIFI network and the second link corresponding to the mobile network are determined as the transmission link.

The second strength threshold may be a value smaller than the first strength threshold. For example, the first strength threshold is -80dB. When the signal strength of the WIFI network is lower than the first strength threshold and higher than the second strength threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the WIFI network is average and the WIFI network can be used to transmit the service data of the UAV, but the data transmission rate may be relatively low. The third strength threshold may be a value smaller than the fourth strength threshold. When the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than the third strength threshold and not higher than the fourth strength threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the mobile network is relatively good. Therefore, in order to improve the data transmission efficiency of the data to be transmitted, the data to be transmitted may be transmitted through the mobile network and the WIFI network at the same time.

The first strength threshold, the second strength threshold, the third strength threshold and the fourth strength threshold may be set by the base station. The first strength threshold, the second strength threshold, the third strength threshold and the fourth strength threshold may be set by the UAV controller.

In step <NUM>, in a case that the first link corresponding to the WIFI network and the second link corresponding to the mobile network are determined as the transmission link, the data to be transmitted is divided into two groups of data according to a predetermined ratio.

The predetermined ratio may be set by the UAV controller. The predetermined ratio may be a fixed value, such as <NUM>:<NUM>. The predetermined ratio may also be determined based on the signal strength of the WIFI network and the signal strength of the mobile network. For example, when the signal strength of the WIFI network and the signal strength of the mobile network are equal, the predetermined ratio may be <NUM>:<NUM>; when the signal strength of the WIFI network is much higher than the signal strength of mobile network, the predetermined ratio may be <NUM>:<NUM>; when the signal strength of the WIFI network is a little bit higher than the signal strength of the mobile network, the predetermined ratio may be <NUM>:<NUM>.

The data to be transmitted may be divided by taking a bit as a unit. For example, the data represented by the first half bits of the data to be transmitted is divided into a first group of data, and the data represented by the second half bits is divided into a second group of data. For example, the first <NUM> bits of <NUM> bits may be used as the first group of data, and the last <NUM> bits may be used as the second group of data.

In step <NUM>, one of the two groups of data is sent to the UAV controller through the first link, and the other group of data is sent to the base station through the second link and then forwarded by the base station to the UAV controller.

Based on the signal strengths of the WIFI network and the mobile network, the one group of data sent to the base station through the second link and the other group of data sent to the UAV controller through the first link can be determined. For example, when the signal strength of the WIFI network is higher than the signal strength of the mobile network, the group with more data may be sent to the UAV controller through the first link.

In one exemplary scenario, as illustrated in <FIG>, under the situation that the UAV <NUM> can access the mobile network and the WIFI network at the same time, if the signal strength of the WIFI network is very good, the first link in the WIFI network may be determined as the transmission link only, so as to reduce the cost in using the mobile network to transmit data; if the signal strength of the WIFI network is average and the signal strength of the mobile network is also average, both the first link corresponding to the WIFI network and the second link corresponding to the mobile network may be determined as the transmission link, so as to ensure that the data of the UAV can be quickly uploaded to the UAV controller. When the signal strength of the WIFI network is relatively low and the signal strength of the mobile network is very good, the second link in the mobile network may be determined as the transmission link, so as to ensure that the UAV <NUM> can transmit data to the UAV controller <NUM> through the most suitable transmission link.

The network used by the UAV may be adjusted according to the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network, so as to ensure that the UAV can transmit data through the best network, thus effectively improving the performance of the UAV when transmitting data.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment. The embodiment is exemplarily described by using the above method provided by the embodiments of the disclosure and taking that the UAV determines the transmission link based on a volume of the data to be transmitted of the UAV and the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network and transmits the data as an example. As illustrated in <FIG>, the method includes the following steps:
In step <NUM>, the volume of the data to be transmitted is determined. In a case that the volume of the data to be transmitted is greater than a first volume threshold, step <NUM> is executed, otherwise, in a case that a volume of the data to be transmitted is not greater than the first volume threshold, step <NUM> is executed.

In an embodiment, the volume of the data to be transmitted may be obtained based on the volume of data cached in the buffer. For example, the volume is <NUM> bits. In an embodiment, the first volume threshold may be set by the UAV controller, generally not exceeding the volume of data that the buffer can cache.

In step <NUM>, the first link corresponding to the WIFI network and the second link corresponding to the mobile network are determined as the transmission link.

In an embodiment, when the volume of the data to be transmitted is greater than the first volume threshold, it indicates that the volume of the data to be transmitted of the UAV is relatively great. In order to complete the transmission of the data as soon as possible, the data may be divided into two groups of data, which may be sent through the first link and the second link respectively.

In an embodiment, the description of step <NUM> and step <NUM> of the embodiment illustrated in <FIG> may be referred to for the description of step <NUM> and step <NUM>, which is thus not described in detail here.

In step <NUM>, the signal strength of the mobile network is compared with the signal strength of the WIFI network. When the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than or equal to the signal strength of the WIFI network, step <NUM> is executed, otherwise, the signal strength of the mobile network is lower than the signal strength of the WIFI network, step <NUM> is executed.

In an embodiment, when a volume is smaller than the first volume threshold, it indicates that the data to be transmitted is relatively less, so the data may be transmitted through only one link. Therefore, the signal strength of the mobile network and the signal strength of the WIFI network may be compared, and then the link with better signal quality may be selected for data transmission.

In step <NUM>, the second link corresponding to the mobile network is determined as the transmission link.

In step <NUM>, the first link corresponding to the WIFI network is determined as the transmission link.

In the embodiment, based on the volume of the data to be transmitted, whether to transmit data through one link or two links may be firstly determined. When it is determined to transmit data through one link, the link with better signal quality may be preferentially selected as the transmission link, thus better integrating the resources of a mobile network and a WIFI network accessed by a UAV, solving the problem that the data transmission performance is caused to be relatively low due to data transmission between a UAV and a UAV controller through a WIFI network in the related arts, and improving the data transmission performance of the UAV.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a data transmission apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. As illustrated in <FIG>, the data transmission apparatus includes:.

<FIG> is a block diagram of another data transmission apparatus, which is not part of the present invention and is present for illustration purpose only. As illustrated in <FIG>, on the basis of the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the determination module <NUM> may include:.

The first strength threshold, the second strength threshold, the third strength threshold and the fourth strength threshold may be set by a base station; or,
the first strength threshold, the second strength threshold, the third strength threshold and the fourth strength threshold may be set by a UAV controller.

In an embodiment, the determination module <NUM> may further include:.

In an embodiment, the sending module may include:.

In an embodiment, the predetermined ratio may be set by the unmanned aerial vehicle controller.

With respect to the apparatus in the above embodiment, the specific manners for performing operations for individual modules therein have been described in detail in the embodiments regarding the method, which will not be elaborated herein.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an apparatus applicable to data transmission according to an exemplary embodiment. For example, the apparatus <NUM> is a UAV.

Referring to <FIG>, the apparatus <NUM> may include one or a plurality of following components: a processing component <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, a power component <NUM>, a multimedia component <NUM>, an audio component <NUM>, an Input/Output (I/O) interface <NUM>, a sensor component <NUM>, and a communication component <NUM>.

The processing component <NUM> is typically configured to control overall operations of the apparatus <NUM>, such as the operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. For example, the processing component <NUM> may include a multimedia module to facilitate the interaction between the multimedia component <NUM> and the processing component <NUM>.

The memory <NUM> is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of the apparatus <NUM>. Examples of such data include instructions for any applications or methods operated on the apparatus <NUM>, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, video, etc. The memory <NUM> may be implemented using any type of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, or a combination thereof, such as a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

The power component <NUM> is configured to provide power to various components of the apparatus <NUM>.

The multimedia component <NUM> may include a screen providing an output interface between the apparatus <NUM> and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). The front camera and the rear camera may receive external multimedia data while the apparatus <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive an external audio signal in a case that the apparatus <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may be further stored in the memory <NUM> or transmitted via the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> further includes a speaker to output audio signals.

The I/O interface <NUM> may provide an interface between the processing component <NUM> and peripheral interface modules, such as a keyboard, a click wheel and buttons.

The sensor component <NUM> may include one or more sensors to provide status assessments of various aspects of the apparatus <NUM>. For example, the sensor component <NUM> may detect an open/closed status of the apparatus <NUM>, relative positioning of components, e.g., the display and the keypad, of the apparatus <NUM>, a change in position of the apparatus <NUM> or a component of the apparatus <NUM>, a presence or absence of user contact with the apparatus <NUM>, an orientation or an acceleration/deceleration of the apparatus <NUM>, and a change in temperature of the apparatus <NUM>.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate communication, wired or wirelessly, between the apparatus <NUM> and other devices. The apparatus <NUM> can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WIFI, <NUM>, or <NUM>, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> further includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) technology, an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In exemplary embodiments, the apparatus <NUM> may be implemented with one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components, for performing the above described methods.

In exemplary embodiments, a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium including instructions, such as the memory <NUM> including instructions, executable by the processor <NUM> in the apparatus <NUM>, for performing the above-described method. For example, the non-temporary computer-readable storage medium may be an ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

The processor <NUM> may be configured to:.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the description and practice of the disclosure disclosed here. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following the general principles thereof and including such departures from the disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art.

Claim 1:
A method for data transmission, comprising:
determining (<NUM>) a transmission link for data to be transmitted based on signal strengths of a mobile network and a Wireless-Fidelity, WIFI, network accessed by an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
sending (<NUM>) the data to be transmitted through the transmission link,
characterized in that,
determining the transmission link for the data to be transmitted based on the signal strengths of the mobile network and the WIFI network accessed by the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprises:
in a case that a volume of the data to be transmitted is greater than a first volume threshold, determining a first link corresponding to the WIFI network and a second link corresponding to the mobile network as the transmission link; or
in a case that a volume of the data to be transmitted is not greater than a first volume threshold, comparing the signal strength of the mobile network with the signal strength of the WIFI network;
in a case that the signal strength of the mobile network is higher than or equal to the signal strength of the WIFI network, determining a second link corresponding to the mobile network as the transmission link; or
in a case that the signal strength of the mobile network is lower than the signal strength of the WIFI network, determining a first link corresponding to the WIFI network as the transmission link.