A smart container yard includes systems for intelligently controlling operations of vehicles in the container yard using teleoperation and/or autonomous operations. A remote support server controls remote support sessions associated with vehicles in the container yard to provide teleoperation support for loading and unloading operations. Aerial drones may be utilized to maintain positions above a teleoperated vehicle and act as signal re-transmitters. An augmented reality view may be provided at a teleoperator workstation to enable a teleoperator to control vehicle operations in the smart container yard.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) task cooperation method based on an overlapping coalition formation (OCF) game includes: constructing a sequential OCF game model for a UAV multi-task cooperation problem; using a bilateral mutual benefit transfer (BMBT) order that is biased toward the utility of a whole coalition to evaluate a preference of a UAV for a coalitional structure; optimizing task resource allocation of the UAV under an overlapping coalitional structure by using a preference gravity-guided Tabu Search algorithm to form a stable coalitional structure; and optimizing a transmission strategy based on the current coalitional structure, an updated status of a task resource allocation scheme of the UAV, and a current fading environment, so as to maximize task execution utility of a UAV network. The method quantifies characteristics of resource properties of the UAV and a task, and optimizes the task resource allocation of the UAV under the overlapping coalitional structure.

An exchange network comprising a plurality of exchange stations, in which each of the exchange stations comprises at least one drone operative to function as a flying crane, a temporary storage space, and at least one designated stopping area for on-road vehicles operative to carry cargo. Each of the exchange stations uses the respective local crane-drones to unload cargo from certain vehicles arriving at one of the respective local designated stopping areas, temporary store the cargo, and then load the cargo onboard certain other vehicles arriving at one of the respective local designated stopping areas, thereby exchanging carriers, and thus generating a transport route for the cargo which is the combination of different parts of transport routes of different carriers. The exchange network may use predetermined routes of many scheduled carriers to plan a routing scheme for the cargo, thereby propagating the cargo between exchange stations in a networked fashion.

Deployed drones are managed. For instance, a first drone detects whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network to determine a configuration parameter of a first message to broadcast discovery information associated with the first drone. In response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a first value for the configuration parameter. Or, in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a second value for the configuration parameter different from the first value.

A central management server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a selection module for selecting an unmanned aircraft and an unmanned robot to monitor a management target area; and a control module for transmitting a monitoring execution command to the selected unmanned aircraft and the unmanned robot, wherein, according to the monitoring execution command, the unmanned robot moves along a preset ground guard route and monitors the management target area on the ground, and the unmanned aircraft flies along a preset air guard route and monitors the management target area from above. When it may be determined that an event has occurred during monitoring, at least one of the unmanned aircraft and the unmanned robot may be configured to transmit event information including location information of a point at which the event has occurred to the control module.

Methods and systems for operating a moving platform to locate a known target at an area associated with the target are disclosed. In an example method to locate the target at the area, a first moving platform, configured with a first type of sensor, is caused to move to the area. An attempt is made to locate, via the first moving platform and the first type of sensor, the target at the area. Based on the attempt, a second moving platform, configured with a second type of sensor, is caused to move to the area. The target is located via the second moving platform and the second type of sensor.

A method for securing a geographical area encompassing a route. A map of the area is obtained. A weapon is associated with a firing modeling consisting of a probability model of hitting its target when shooting, as a function of the firing distance. Positions of potential shelters of threats on the map are determined by using a trained artificial intelligence device. The modeling is applied for each weapon and potential shelter while relating the shots to the route and summing all the probabilities of hitting its target on each portion of the route. The potential shelters most likely to constitute attack threats along the route are determined. A path is defined in order to address these potential shelters most likely to constitute attack threats.

According to a technical aspect of the invention, there is provided a multiple unmanned aerial vehicles navigation optimization method is performed at a ground base station which operates in conjunction with unmanned aerial vehicles-base stations which are driven by a battery to move and cover a given trajectory point set, the multiple unmanned aerial vehicles navigation optimization method including: calculating an age-of-information metric by receiving an information update from the unmanned aerial vehicles-base stations through communication, when the ground base station is present within a transmission range of the unmanned aerial vehicles-base stations; setting conditions of a trajectory, energy efficiency, and age of information of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles-base stations; and executing Q-learning for finding a trajectory path policy of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles-base stations, so as to maximize total energy efficiency of an unmanned aerial vehicles-base station relay network to which the energy efficiency and the age of information are applied. According to the invention, the following effects are obtained. Age of information (AoI) that is a new matrix used to measure up-do-dateness of data is set, an edge computing environment for a remote cloud environment is provided by using the AoI, and a computing-oriented communications application can be executed by using the edge computing environment.

Systems and techniques are provided for charging devices at a property using battery-charging drones. In some implementations, a monitoring system is configured to monitor a property and includes a battery-powered sensor configured to generate sensor data. The system includes a drone that is configured to navigate the property and charge the battery-powered sensor. A monitor control unit is configured to obtain a battery level from the battery-powered sensor and compare the battery level to a battery level threshold. Based on the comparison, the monitor control unit determines that the battery level does not satisfy the threshold. Based on the determination, the monitor control unit generates and transmits an instruction to a drone for the drone to navigate to the battery-powered sensor and charge a battery of the battery-powered sensor. The monitor control unit receives data from the drone that indicates whether the drone charged the battery of the sensor.

A modular flat-packable drone kit includes a plurality of components that can be assembled into a drone. Components of the drone kit include elements that may be cut from a flat sheet of material, thereby enabling low cost manufacturing and compact packaging and may be assembled without specialized tools. A set of drones may operate in a standalone mode or may be coupled together and operated in a group configuration.