Systems and methods for tracking, evaluating and determining a response to emergency situations using unmanned airborne vehicles

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems, apparatus, and/or methods are described for enhanced responsiveness in responding to an emergency situation using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Drones are fully autonomous in that they are operated without human intervention from a pilot, an operator, or other personnel. The disclosed drone utilizes movable access doors to provide the capability of vertically takeoff and landing. The drone also includes an emergency recovery system including a mechanism to deploy a parachute in an event of a failure of the on-board autopilot. Also disclosed herein is a drone port that provides an IR-based docking mechanism for precision landing of the drone, with a very low margin of error. Additionally, the drone port includes pads that provide automatic charge to the drone's batteries by contact-based charging via the drone's landing gear legs.

1 . A system for communication with a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and a plurality of computer aided dispatch (CAD) computers that receive, process and respond to a plurality of incident calls by capturing incident details of each call including a type, time, a location and a priority of each call and by sending out one or more response units to the location of the call, the system comprising:
 at least one remotely-located hosted server computer in communication with the plurality of CAD computers to retrieve the incident details of one or more incident calls, the at least one server computer including a plurality of modules and a mapping application integrated with the plurality of modules, the plurality of modules including:
 at least a first module to evaluate, monitor, and track the plurality of incident calls; 
 at least a second module to evaluate performance of the plurality of CAD computers or the response units sent out in response to the incident calls; 
 at least a third module to make an incident-related decision about the one or more calls, the third module:
 (i) tracking real-time information pertaining to each UAV, the real-time information including: first information corresponding to a location of the UAV, second information corresponding to whether the UAV is docked or in-flight, and third information corresponding to the UAV's battery-life; 
 (ii) determining launch, landing and in-flight operations of the plurality of UAVs; and 
 (iii) selecting one or more UAVs in the plurality of UAVs to deploy in response to a selected incident call; and 
 
 at least a fourth module to offer corrective/remedial action in connection with a selected call, the fourth module:
 (i) selecting an incident call from the plurality of incident calls to identify a prioritized incident call; and 
 (ii) determining information indicative of attributes associated with deployment of one or more units or UAVs in response to the prioritized incident call, including determining whether the deployment of the one or more units or UAVs was timely. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said system further comprises at least one UAV in the plurality of UAVs adapted for wireless communication with the at least one server computer and configured to:
 fly to and from the location in the in-flight operation of the at least one UAV; and   relay, to the at least one server, in flight information including operational parameters of the at least one UAV so that the at least one server computer can take remedial action in connection with the prioritized incident call.   
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the real-time information pertaining to each UAV includes a determination of internal heat produced, amount of memory available, amount of processing power consumed, strength of RF signal received, speed and direction of surrounding wind, surrounding temperature; GPS connectivity; communication network connectivity, and an indication of any mechanical or electrical failure. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of modules makes a determination of at least one of:
 timeliness of deployed UAVs or units sent in response to the plurality of incident calls;   whether routes taken by a deployed UAVs were optimal; or whether routes taken by response units were optimal.   
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of modules determines whether an in flight UAV is to continue to the location of the prioritized incident call, reroute to another location of another call, or return to a home base. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of modules controls the in flight UAV to return to the home base and selects another docked UAV for deployment to the location of the prioritized incident call. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of modules, based on information of a first in flight UAV deployed to the location of the prioritized incident call and information of a second in flight UAV deployed to another location of another call, selects the first in flight UAV to return to a home base and reroute the second in flight UAV to the location of the prioritized incident call. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of modules controls access privilege to the control-operations of one or more UAVs in the plurality of UAVs. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of modules controls accesses to a UAV in the plurality of UAVs between a first responder in a first geographical region and a second responder in a second geographical region different than the first geographical region. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one server computer is networked with a plurality of Public Safety Access Points (PSAPs) each having a user interface such that the PSAPs can control the plurality of modules via the user interfaces. 
     
     
         11 . A system to make incident related decisions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the system comprising:
 a hosted server for network communication with a plurality of UAVs, the plurality of UAVs including docked UAVs and in flight UAVs; and   a module integrated with a mapping application and a plurality of databases including:
 a first databases of real-time to near real time telematic UAV information from each UAV in the plurality of UAVs including health and welfare information, operational parameters and sensor data; and 
 at least a second database of real-time incident call information, the module defining multiple criteria to select UAVs for any one of launching, landing or routing each UAV in the plurality of UAVs. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the hosted server is in communication with any one of a plurality of computer aided dispatches (CADs) or a plurality of Public Safety Access Points (PSAPs) to integrate the module with the at least second database. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the hosted server is in communication with a UAV port to integrate the module with the first database. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the module is integrated with a remote cloud-based engine defining a mission planning module to receive health and welfare information and operational parameters of one or more UAVs. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 14 , wherein the remote cloud-based engine is connected to a fight path information database, an object avoidance/no fly database and weather information database. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the module and remote cloud-based engine define a geofence to restrict a UAV within a geographical area. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the module defines a set of priorities to determine which of the plurality of UAVs to deploy to an incident location. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the server is connected with a security module for encrypted communication with one or more of a UAV, a drone port, a remote-based engine defining a mission planning module or an external database. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 18 , wherein the module and mapping application display the location of at least one UAV in the plurality of UAVs. 
     
     
         20 . A method of making incident related decisions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the method comprising:
 retrieving details of an incident call from a plurality of computer aided dispatch computers (CADs); and   selecting at least one UAV from a plurality of UAVs, including in flight UAVs, to respond to the incident call based on criteria associated with real-time to near real-time information of the plurality of UAVs and the details of the incident call.   
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the retrieving includes evaluating, monitoring, and tracking the plurality of incident calls. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the evaluating includes evaluating performance of the one or more of the plurality of CADs processing each incident call and evaluating response units sent out in response to the incident calls. 
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the selecting includes selecting launch, landing, or in-flight of operation of each of the plurality of UAVs. 
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the selecting includes tracking real-time information pertaining to at least one UAV in the plurality of UAVs, the real-time information including: location information, including whether the UAV is docked or in-flight; and battery-life. 
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the real-time information includes: internal heat produced; amount of memory available; amount of processing power consumed; strength of RF signal received; speed and direction of surrounding wind; surrounding temperature; GPS connectivity; communication network connectivity; and indication of any mechanical or electrical failure. 
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 25 , further comprising offering corrective/remedial action in connection with a selected incident call that includes analyzing the selected call in view of activity in a response zone associated with the incident during a time of the selected call including analyzing response of units and UAVs selected to deploy in response to the selected call.