Process and System to Register and Regulate Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operations

Abstract

A registration authority (RA) server registers unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their owners/operators (O/O). A UAV is maintained in a flight lock state until a flight plan request from the O/O is approved by the RA, which sends an key-signed approval to unlock the UAV's flight lock. The RA server evaluates a UAV's proposed flight plan based on the attributes of the O/O and UAV, the location and time of the requested flight plan, and a set of flight rules and exclusion zones that are developed in view of privacy assurance, security assurance, flight safety assurance, and ground safety assurance. The flight plan key-signed approval supplied to the UAV by the RA server specifies an inclusion zone that corresponds to a flight plan trajectory to be followed. Once in flight, the UAV maintains real-time knowledge of its position and time to ensure its flight remains within the approved inclusion zone.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of authorizing flight operations of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
 sending, from a UAV operator device, an authorization request message to an authorization system over a network, the authorization request message comprising UAV operator identification information and proposed flight information including a time and location of a proposed flight; and   receiving, at the UAV operator device, an automated notification message from the authorization system, the automated notification message indicating authorization to conduct UAV flight operations in accordance with the proposed flight information in response to comparing the proposed flight information to stored flight restriction data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling automated UAV flight operations in accordance with the time and location of the proposed flight.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein enabling automated UAV flight operations comprises sending a message from the UAV operator device to the UAV. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the automated notification message comprises receiving the automated notification message at a cellular receiver of the UAV. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UAV operator device is integrated into or mountable on the UAV, and receiving the automated notification message comprises receiving the automated notification message at the UAV. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the proposed flight information includes altitude information for comparison with altitude restrictions specified by the flight restriction data. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the time of the proposed flight in the proposed flight information comprises a proposed time window. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automated notification message indicates authorization to conduct UAV flight operations in accordance with the proposed flight information in response to comparing the proposed flight information with at least one of: safety restrictions, flight plans of other airborne objects, terrain and obstacles, or privacy restrictions. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the automated notification message from the authorization system, includes receiving the automated notification message indicating no authorization to conduct UAV flight operations in accordance with the proposed flight information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the automated notification message includes proposed alternative flight information that would meet requirements of the stored flight restriction data. 
     
     
         11 . An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
 an engine and flight control surfaces;   a position, navigation, and time (PNT) module to provide PNT information;   a wireless communication interface to receive data; and   a processor coupled to the flight control surfaces, the PNT module, and the communication interface, and configured to receive, via the communication interface, a notification message conveying authority, from an authority system, to fly the UAV in a defined time and location.   
     
     
         12 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the wireless communication interface is a cellular transceiver. 
     
     
         13 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the wireless communication interface is capable of communicating with a wireless phone of an operator of the UAV. 
     
     
         14 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the UAV receives the notification message from a wireless phone of an operator of the UAV. 
     
     
         15 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the UAV receives the notification message from the authority system. 
     
     
         16 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the defined time comprises a time window. 
     
     
         17 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the defined location is an inclusion zone that avoids conflicts with flight path exclusion zones. 
     
     
         18 . The UAV of  claim 17 , wherein the inclusion zone includes an altitude boundary. 
     
     
         19 . The UAV of  claim 17 , wherein the flight path exclusion zones include airspace constraints based on at least one of: safety restrictions, flight plans of other airborne objects, terrain and obstacles, and privacy restrictions. 
     
     
         20 . The UAV of  claim 11 , wherein the wireless communication interface is configured to transmit an authorization request message to an authorization system over a network, the authorization request message comprising UAV operator identification information and proposed flight information including a time and location of a proposed flight.