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.

A method of supporting robot(s) landing within a ground region is provided. The method includes accessing a map in which the ground region is tessellated into cells covering respective areas of the ground region. Each cell is classified as feasible to indicate a respective area is feasible for landing, or infeasible to indicate the respective area is infeasible for landing. The map is searched for clusters of adjoining cells that are classified as feasible, covering clusters of adjoining areas that define sub-regions within the ground region that are feasible for landing. The sub-regions are ranked according to a cost metric, and one of the sub-regions is selected according to the ranking. A geographic position of the selected sub-region is then output for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot(s) to land at the selected sub-region within the ground region.

The general field of the invention is that of synthetic vision systems for a vehicle, said vehicle having a particular navigation direction. The system in accordance with the invention includes at least: a cartographic database representative of the terrain travelled over by the vehicle, means for geolocation of said vehicle, electronic means for computing a representation of the principal parameters of said vehicle; graphic generator means for generating a three-dimensional synthetic representation of said terrain; and a display device displaying said three-dimensional synthetic representation in a particular field of view (FOV) and in a particular display direction, means for modifying the display direction to a direction different from the particular navigation direction of the vehicle, said modification means being manual or automatic, the display direction then being a function of a piloting or navigation parameter.

A method for precisely applying chemicals targeted by digital maps developed from remotely sensed data, including: obtaining EOS data through a growing season of a crop growing in a field; processing the EOS data to reflectance values; removing error-inducing effects of atmospheric alteration from the processed EOS data; calculating from the processed EOS data a crop performance index that indicates one or more poor performing areas of the field; generating one or more maps of the crop performance index to allow a user to determine whether each of the one or more poor performing areas of the field are due to biological pests instead of topographic or soil constraints in discrete locations of the field; guiding the user to the one or more poor performing areas of the field using the one or more maps to allow the user to scout the one or more poor performing areas of the field to confirm and identify the biological pests; and providing guidance for a chemical application at the one or more poor performing areas that were confirmed as having the biological pests. Other embodiments are provided.

Localization and mapping systems and related techniques are provided to improve the operation of unmanned mobile sensor or survey platforms. A localization and mapping system includes a logic device configured to communicate with a single element rangefinder (SER) coupled to a mobile platform, where the SER is configured to provide ranging sensor data indicating a distance between the SER and a surface within a survey area. The logic device generates a horizontal planar occupancy map, generates a vertical planar occupancy map, and determines a three-dimensional occupancy map based on the horizontal planar occupancy map and the vertical planar occupancy map.

Systems and methods are described for identifying and validating the routes and characteristics of roads unknown to a road mapping database. The systems and methods may combine feature recognition analysis of aerial images with other information sources such as location tracking information from a mobile device or client in order to improve the accuracy of road information stored within a road mapping database. The systems and methods may also facilitate the collection of additional information regarding the characteristics of the identified roads from a client device or user thereof.

An image processing apparatus (10) includes an interface (12) configured to acquire a surrounding image of a moveable body (1) and a processor (12) configured to overlay a display indicating a course trajectory of a specific portion of the moveable body (1) in a travel direction of the moveable body (1) on the surrounding image at a position corresponding to the height of the specific portion from a road surface (3). The processor (12) is configured to change the display indicating the course trajectory when an obstacle, included in the surrounding image and present in the travel direction of the moveable body (1), and the course trajectory of the specific portion are in contact.

A generation system and method for a high-precision three-dimensional navigation map of a fully mechanized mining surface, applicable to use in the technical field of unmanned mining. The generation system comprises a channel wave seismometer, a laser radar, a combined navigation device, a ground penetrating radar, and a data processing unit; the data processing unit acquires data collected by sensors; perform coordinate conversion, feature fusion and consistency processing on the collected data to generate a Delaunay triangle network of a coal seam, a fault/fold, and a roadway; draw a high-precision profile map of the triangle map, calculate a topological relation of the profile map, generate a topological data structure of the profile map, establish a navigation information automatic query database platform based on the high-precision profile map, and construct the high-precision three-dimensional navigation map of the fully mechanized mining surface. The high-precision three-dimensional navigation map generated by the present invention can provide accurate thickness information of the coal seam, a varied dip angle of the coal seam and a position of a dangerous geological structure space to fully mechanized mining equipment, and has functions such as high-precision positioning, information sensing, and path planning.

Implementations are directed to assigning corresponding semantic identifiers to a plurality of rows of an agricultural field, generating a local mapping of the agricultural field that includes the plurality of rows of the agricultural field, and subsequently utilizing the local mapping in performance of one or more agricultural operations. In some implementations, the local mapping can be generated based on overhead vision data that captures at least a portion of the agricultural field. In these implementations, the local mapping can be generated based on GPS data associated with the portion of the agricultural field captured in the overhead vision data. In other implementations, the local mapping can be generated based on driving data generated during an episode of locomotion of a vehicle through the agricultural field. In these implementations, the local mapping can be generated based on GPS data associated with the vehicle traversing through the agricultural field.

Various disclosed embodiments include illustrative navigation systems, and vehicles. A navigation system includes at least one sensor configured to detect terrain and objects near a vehicle and a processor configured to receive information from the at least one sensor and configured to determine a navigation path for the vehicle to follow. The navigation system also includes a projection system disposable on the vehicle. The projection system may be configured to project light onto at least one item chosen from terrain and objects based on the determined navigation path.