DRONE DOCKING PORT AND METHOD OF USE

Abstract

A drone docking port (DDP) preferably mounted on a pole and having an openable and closable convertible top (CT), a docking plate having integrated battery wired or wireless recharging pads, and a control module. The control module (CM) is adapted to preferably autonomously control all functions of the DDP including actuation of the CT and relay of video, audio, and flight control information between the CM and a central monitoring center and/or emergency personnel. The DDP is preferable positioned in close proximity to an intended monitoring site. When the CT is in an open position, a drone may initiate flight from the DDP and when a drone flight is completed and a drone has re-docked therein, the CT may be closed to protect the drone docked therein from external weather. The DDP may further include Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) cameras and sensors to detect disruptive or other predetermined behavior.

Claims

1. A DDP comprising a housing having an inner cavity, an openable and closable top having a plurality of slidable members, a docking base, and a drone, wherein the docking base is affixed within the housing and the drone is deployable mounted on the docking base, and wherein the DDP is adapted such that when the top is in a closed position, the housing substantially seals out environment external to the DDP, and wherein when the top is in an open position, the drone is exposed so as to be able to launch.

2. The DDP of claim 1, wherein the drone includes at least one battery, and wherein when the drone is mounted on the docking base, the at least one battery is automatically charged by at least one of a wired battery charger and a wireless battery charger.

3. The DDP of claim 1, wherein the DDP is mounted on a top of a pole in near proximity to a target monitoring site.

4. The DDP of claim 1, wherein in response to a predetermined signal, the top automatically opens and the drone automatically flies to a target monitoring site.

5. The DDP of claim 4, wherein when the drone is at the target monitoring site, the drone performs at least one of the functions of recording video data of the target monitoring site, recording audio data of the target monitoring site, transmitting video data of the target monitoring site, transmitting audio data of the target monitoring site, transmitting audio data to the target monitoring site, directing traffic at the target monitoring site, providing a warning at the target monitoring site, illuminating the target monitoring site, and creating a light beacon over the target monitoring site.

6. The DDP of claim 1, wherein the docking base is adapted to receive drones of a plurality of shapes and sizes, and wherein the docking base is adapted to house a plurality of drones simultaneously, and wherein the docking base includes at least one target thereon and is adapted so as to automatically guide landing of a drone to the at least one target.

7. The DDP of claim 6, wherein the drone includes at least one landing foot and the docking base is adapted to receive the least one landing foot, and when the at least one foot is positioned on the at least one target, the at least one foot is automatically and releasably secured to the docking base.

8. The DDP of claim 7, when the securement of the at least one drone foot is adapted such that the drone will not dislodge in response to a predetermined wind load.

9. The DDP of claim 8, wherein the at least one foot includes a camera affixed thereto and positioned such that the foot affixed camera is adapted to perform at least one of record and transmit video at the target monitoring site and automatically guide the drone landing foot to the at least one target.

10. The DDP of claim 1, wherein each member of the plurality of slidable members have at least one seal mounted thereon and are adapted such that closure of the openable and closable top is achieved by sliding the members into a closed positioned such that a landed drone is enclosed therein and such that the seals seal the inner cavity from an external environment.

11. The DDP of claim 1, wherein the DDP functionally includes at least one of an electric motor, a back-up battery, a solar panel, an air conditioner, a heater, an anemometer, a temperature sensor, a relative humidity sensor, and a barometer.

12. A DDP comprising a housing having an inner cavity, an openable and closable top having a plurality of slidable members, a drone having a landing gear shroud, a docking base adapted to receive the a drone, and at least one battery, wherein the docking base is affixed within the housing and the drone is deployably mounted on the docking base, and wherein the DDP is adapted such that when the openable and closable top is in a closed position, the housing substantially seals out environment external to the DDP, and wherein when the openable and closable top is in an open position, the drone is exposed so as to be able to launch, and wherein when the drone is mounted on the docking base, the at least one battery is automatically charged by at least one of a wired battery charger and a wireless battery charger.

13. The DDP of claim 12, wherein the DDP is mounted on a top of a pole in near proximity to a target monitoring site, and wherein in response to a predetermined signal, the top automatically opens and the drone automatically flies to a target monitoring site.

14. The DDP of claim 13, wherein when the drone is at the target monitoring site, the drone performs at least one of the functions of recording video data of the target monitoring site, recording audio data of the target monitoring site, transmitting video data of the target monitoring site, transmitting audio data of the target monitoring site, transmitting audio data to the target monitoring site, directing traffic at the target monitoring site, providing a warning at the target monitoring site, illuminating the target monitoring site, and creating a light beacon over the target monitoring site.

15. The DDP of claim 12, wherein the docking base includes at least one target thereon and wherein the drone includes at least one landing foot, and wherein the DDP is adapted so as to automatically guide the drone landing foot to the at least one target, and wherein when the at least one foot is positioned on the at least one target, the at least one foot is automatically and releasably secured to the docking base such that drone will not dislodge in response to a predetermined wind load.

16. The DDP of claim 15, wherein the at least one foot includes a camera affixed thereto and positioned such that the foot affixed camera is adapted to perform at least one of record and transmit video at the target monitoring site and automatically guide the drone landing foot to the at least one target.

17. The DDP of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of slidable members have at least one seal mounted thereon and are adapted such that closure of the openable and closable top is achieved by sliding the members into a closed positioned such that the seals seal the inner cavity from an external environment.

18. The DDP of claim 12, wherein the drone landing gear shroud comprises of a plurality of side panels and a bottom panel surrounding the landing gear and having a plurality of multicolor LED lights affixed thereto, wherein the multicolor LED lights include at least one of a green color, a yellow color, a red color and a white color, and wherein the LED lights are adapted to provide guidance to traffic at a target monitoring site, and wherein intensity of the multicolor LED lights is adapted to vary so as to be visible during daytime and nighttime from a distance of at least 800 feet therefrom, and wherein the white color LED light is adapted to illuminate a target monitoring site with overhead lighting during nighttime.

19. The DDP of claim 12, wherein the drone landing gear shroud comprises a plurality of cameras affixed to the side panels and the bottom panel, and wherein the cameras include a video processing unit and an artificial intelligence module adapted to process video data at a target monitoring site so as to aid in drone navigation and to detect at least one of a predetermined pattern and a predetermined object.

20. A DDP for use in providing a docking port for an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) enabled to automatically perform takeoff, mission accomplishment, landing, and post-landing battery recharging, the DDP comprising an enclosure having a lower portion and an upper portion, a control module, a battery pack, and a battery charger, the enclosure lower portion forming at least one of a hemispherical shape, a semi-ovoidial shape, a cubic shape, a modification of a hemispherical shape, a modification of a semi-ovoidial shape, a modification of a cubic shape, and a combination thereof, and wherein the enclosure lower portion includes the control module, battery pack, and battery charger functionally mounted therein, the enclosure upper portion forming at least one of a hemispherical shape, a semi-ovoidial shape, a cubic shape, a modification of a hemispherical shape, a modification of a semi-ovoidial shape, a modification of a cubic shape, and a combination thereof, the enclosure upper portion further comprising a convertible enclosure upper portion having plurality of enclosure upper portion members, each enclosure upper portion member having a leading edge and a trailing edge, each leading edge having a “T” shaped member protruding at substantially 90 degrees therefrom, and each trailing edge having a weather strip affixed thereto, and wherein the enclosure includes at least one motor connected thereto, and wherein the DDP is adapted such that when the motor actuates to move the convertible enclosure upper portion from an open position to a closed position, the motor causes a first enclosure upper portion member to rotate and the rotational movement of the first enclosure upper portion member causes each subsequent enclosure upper portion member to follow until the enclosure upper portion is closed with the weather strips being in a compressed weather sealing state and a DDP inner cavity being formed thereby and being substantially sealed from an external weather environment, and wherein the DDP is adapted such that when the motor actuates to move the convertible enclosure upper portion from a closed position to an open position, the motor causes a first enclosure upper portion member to rotate and the rotational movement of the first enclosure upper portion member causes each subsequent enclosure upper portion member to follow until the enclosure upper portion is opened with the weather strips being in an compressed non-weather sealing state and the DDP being in a drone receivable and drone launchable state, and wherein opening the enclosure upper portion from a closed state occurs within 10 seconds, and wherein closing the enclosure upper portion from an open state occurs within 10 seconds, and wherein the DDP is adapted such that the enclosure upper portion is automatically positioned between a closed state and a fully opened state to a mid-state such that substantial weather protection is provided while also allowing the DDP inner cavity temperature to equalize with the DDP proximate external temperature, and wherein a degree of opening of such mid-state is automatically proportionate to the DDP proximate external temperature,

21. The DDP of claim 20, wherein the DDP includes a drone launchably and dockably retained therein.

22. The DDP of claim 20, wherein the DDP includes a drone docking plate mounted therein and having at least one charging pad thereon, the drone docking plate being adapted such that when drone contacts the at least one charging pad, at least one of wired charging and wireless charging of the drone is initiated.

23. The DDP of claim 22, wherein the drone docking plate comprises at least one of metal, plastic, fiberglass, and a combination thereof, and wherein the drone docking plate is formed in at least one of a circular shape, an oval shape, and a rectangular shape, and wherein the drone docking plate includes a plurality of charging pads, and wherein the drone docking plate automatically temporarily restrains a drone to the docking plate while a drone is charging from the docking plate.

24. The DDP of claim 20, wherein the DDP is mounted on an elevated elongate structure in near proximity to a target monitoring site.

25. The DDP of claim 21, wherein in response to a predetermined signal, the enclosure upper portion automatically opens and the drone automatically flies to a target monitoring site.

26. The DDP of claim 25, wherein when the drone is at the target monitoring site, the drone performs at least one of the functions of recording video data of the target monitoring site, recording audio data of the target monitoring site, transmitting video data of the target monitoring site to a central monitoring station, transmitting audio data of the target monitoring site to a central monitoring station, receiving audio data from a central monitoring center, receiving non-audio data from a central monitoring center, directing traffic at the target monitoring site, providing a warning at the target monitoring site, illuminating the target monitoring site, and creating a light beacon over the target monitoring site.

27. The DDP of claim 26, wherein the data from a central monitoring station comprises a drone override command.

28. The DDP of claim 20, wherein the battery pack is adapted to operate the DDP without external power or recharging for at least 36 hours, and wherein the battery pack is adapted to continuously recharge a drone battery for at least 2 hours.

29. The DDP of claim 20, wherein the DDP includes at least one of a solar panel adapted to recharge the battery pack, an air conditioning unit adapted to automatically control temperature and humidity inside of the DDP, a heating unit adapted to automatically control temperature and humidity inside of the DDP, a weather monitoring device adapted to monitor at least one of temperature, wind speed, humidity, rain, snow, ice, fog, and dust.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] In order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0039] FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a DDP in a closed or UP position;

[0040] FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a DDP in a closed or UP position with landing cones and recharging pads according to an embodiment

[0041] FIG. 3A is a top view of a docking plate showing landing cones and distinguishing marks;

[0042] FIG. 3B is a sectional side view of a docking plate and support slate assembly;

[0043] FIG. 4A is a sectional side view of a landing gear leg and docking latch with the docking latch in an inactive position;

[0044] FIG. 4B is a sectional side view of a landing gear leg and docking latch with the docking latch in an activated position;

[0045] FIG. 5 is a sectional side view of a docked drone;

[0046] FIG. 6 is a sectional side view of a DDP in an Open or Down;

[0047] FIG. 7 is a sectional side view of a DDP in a Closed or UP position with solar panels mounted on the top portion of the CT sections;

[0048] FIG. 8 is a front view of a drone attached to a light shroud assembly;

[0049] FIG. 9A is a top view of a light shroud attached to landing gear legs;

[0050] FIG. 9B is a front view of a light shroud attached to landing gear legs;

[0051] FIG. 10 is a block logic diagram of a drone docking processor module;

[0052] FIG. 11 is a block logic diagram of a DDP-CM; and

[0053] FIG. 12 is a remote control unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0054] Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

[0055] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are included to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

[0056] Referring to FIGS. 1-12, DDP 100 includes DDP enclosure base 101, CT sections 105, 107 and 109, docking plate 210 having recharging pads 217, support plate 215 attached to docking plate 210 by support rods 212. Support plate 215 is affixed to DDP enclosure base 101 by DDP support pillar 120 or like suitable mechanism that firmly holds docking plate 210 and support plate 215 in place. DDP 100 contains CM 270 and DDP batteries 275 located within DDP 100 and mounted on support plate 215. DDP 100 contains and encloses the inactive drone 300 where it resides or is stored until activation. CM 270 controls all aspects of DDP 100 to include opening and closing of CT sections 105, 107 and 109, recharging of DDP batteries 275 and drone batteries, as well as other optional equipment such as solar panels 106, 108 & 110, air conditioning unit 280, and weather station 280. In an inactive mode, DDP 100 contains drone 300 with CT sections 105, 107 and 109 in the UP or Closed position and enclosing drone 300 from the outside environment. While in the inactive mode, drone 300 makes electrical contact with recharging pads 217 allowing the drone batteries to recharge. Upon activation, CT sections 105, 107 and 109 open to fully expose drone 300, drone 300's motors start allowing the drone 300 to takeoff and performs its mission. Upon drone 300 return, drone 300 autonomously positions itself above DDP 100 for landing, verifies proper orientation using distinguishing marks 227 and 228 on docking plate 210, and then descends to docking plate 210 where drone 300 initially makes contact with docking plate 210, slides into a captured position or lands and makes contact with recharging pads 217. Upon drone 300 landing and being secure, the CT sections 105, 107 and 109 close to cover drone 300 and enclose it from the outside environment and DDP 100 reverts to an inactive mode where drone 300 remains until the next drone 300 activation after drone batteries are fully recharged.

[0057] Referring to FIGS. 1-12, DDP 100 includes DDP enclosure base 101, CT sections 105, 107 and 109, docking plate 210 having a plurality of landing cones 220 with each landing cone 220 having a landing gear hole 221 at the bottom thereof and sufficiently sized to allow drone landing gear leg 330 and feet 331 to enter hole 221 and be captured by a plurality of landing gear latches 333 located within landing gear leg 330 or a plurality of latches located in close proximity to the underside of the docking plate 210 and landing gear hole 221. Landing gear cones 220 further include distinguishing marks or rings 225 to individually distinguish select cones by docking cameras 337 located in a plurality of landing gear feet 331 to aid in precise drone docking maneuvers. Select landing gear feet 331 comprise a conductive material (e.g. metal) located at the bottom of landing gear feet 331 and make contact with and are supported by a plurality of recharging pads 217 so that the drone's batteries will be recharged while the done is stored within DDP 100. Recharging pads 217 are further supported by support plate 215 and separated from support plate 215 by insulation pads 218. Support plate 215 is attached to docking plate 210 by support rods 212. Support plate 215 is affixed to DDP enclosure base 101 by DDP support pillar 120 or like suitable mechanism that firmly holds the docking plate 210 and support plate 215 in place. DDP 100 contains CM 270 located within the DDP 100 on the underneath side of support plate 215. CM 270 controls all aspects of DDP 100 to include opening and closing of CT sections 105, 107 and 109, activating landing gear latch 333, recharging DDP batteries 275 and drone batteries. In an inactive mode, DDP 100 contains drone 300 with CT sections 105, 107 and 109 in the UP or Closed position and enclosing drone 300 from the outside environment. While in the inactive mode, drone landing gear feet 331 make electrical contact with recharging pads 217 allowing drone batteries to recharge. Upon activation, CT sections 105, 107 and 109 opens to fully exposing drone 300, drone 300 motors start and landing gear latch 333 activates to allow drone 300 takeoff. Once drone 300 takeoff is complete, landing gear latch 333 deactivates and awaits drone return. Upon drone 300 return, drone 300 autonomously positions itself above DDP 100 for landing, verifies proper orientation with using distinguishing marks 227 and 228 on docking plate 210 and distinguishing rings 223, 224 and 225 on the landing gear cones 220, then descends to the docking plate 210 where drones landing gear feet 331 make contact with plurality of landing cones 220 and in-turn landing cones 220 guide the drone landing gear feet 331 into the landing gear holes 221 at the bottom of landing cones 220, where landing gear legs 330 and feet 331 drop into hole 220 with the landing gear feet 331 making contact with the recharging pads 217 and the landing gear legs 330 being latched by the landing gear latch 333 located within the drone landing gear legs 330 or on an underside of docking plate 210. Once secure, CT sections 105, 107 and 109 close to cover drone 300 and enclose it from the outside environment and DDP 100 reverts to an inactive mode where drone 300 remains until the next drone 300 activation after drone batteries are fully recharged.

[0058] FIG. 1 shows the side sectional view of DDP 100 comprising spherical container comprising DDP enclosure base 101 and CT sections 105, 107 and 109 that can be mounted on the top of support pole 400. The CT comprises a plurality of CT sections 105, 107 and 109 and each CT section is shaped to form approximately one sixth to one eighth of a sphere and has leading edge 115 and trailing edge 116. CT sections 105, 107 and 109 may be rotated by a CT motor into a fully closed position as seen in FIG. 1, or rotated into an open position with CT sections 105, 107 and 109 rotated into enclosure base 101, exposing the entire upper half DDP 100 and drone 300 to the outside environment. As CT sections 105, 107 and 109 transition from an open position to a closed position, the leading CT section 109 is rotated first and as trailing edge 116 comes in contact with the second CT section's 107 leading edge 115 separated by a weatherproof barrier and the second CT section 107 will be rotated. When the second CT section's 107 trailing edge 116 comes in contact with the third CT section's 105 leading edge 115 the third section will be rotated until CT sections 105, 107 and 109 are fully rotated and completely closed. DDP 100 interior consists of a docking plate 210 that assists drone 300 landing or docking, support plate 215 with CM 270, DDP batteries 275, and DDP air conditioning unit 280, support rods 212 affixing docking plate 210 and support plate 215 as an assembly, a support pillar 120 that contains the docking plate 210 and support plate 215 assembly in place within DDC 100.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 2, DDP 100 includes DDP enclosure base 101, CT sections 105, 107 & 109, docking plate 210 which comprises a plurality of landing cones 220 with each landing cone 220 having landing gear hole 221 at the bottom thereof and sufficiently sized so as to allow drone landing gear leg 330 and feet 331 to enter hole 221 and be captured by one or more landing gear latches 333 located within the landing gear leg 330. Select landing gear feet 331 comprise a conductive material (e.g. metal) located at the bottom of landing gear feet 331 and make contact with and are supported by two recharging pads 217 so that drone 300's batteries will be recharged while done 300 is stored within DDP 100. Recharging pads 217 are further supported by support plate 215 and separated from support plate 215 by insulation pads 218. Support plate 215 is attached to docking plate 210 by support rods 212. Support plate 215 is affixed to DDP enclosure base 101 by a DDP support pillar 120 or like suitable mechanism that firmly holds docking plate 210 and support plate 215 in place. DDP 100 contains CM 270 located within DDP enclosure base 101 on the underneath side of the support plate 215. CM 270 controls all aspects of the DDP 100 including opening and closing of CT sections 105, 107 and 109, activating landing gear latch 333, recharging DDP batteries 275 and drone 300 batteries. In an inactive mode, the DDP 100 contains drone 300 with CT sections 105, 107 and 109 in the UP or Closed position and enclosing drone 300 from the outside environment. While in the inactive mode, drone 300 landing gear feet 331 make electrical contact with the recharging pads 217 allowing drone 300 batteries to recharge. Upon activation, CT sections 105, 107 and 109 open to fully exposing drone 300, drone 300 motors start and landing gear latch 333 activates to allow drone 300 takeoff. Upon completion of drone 300 takeoff, the landing gear latch 333 deactivates and awaits drone 300 return. Upon drone 300 return, drone 300 autonomously positions itself above DDP 100 for landing, verifies proper orientation with using distinguishing marks 227 and 228 and distinguishing rings 223, 224 and 225 on landing gear cones 220, then descends to docking plate 210 where the drone landing gear feet 331 make contact with plurality of landing cones 220 and in turn landing cones 220 guide drone landing gear feet 331 into landing gear holes 221 at the bottom thereof where the landing gear legs 330 and feet 331 drop into landing gear hole 221 with landing gear feet 331 making contact with recharging pads 217 and landing gear legs 330 being latched by the landing gear latch 333 located within drone landing gear legs 330 or on an underside of docking plate 210. Once secure, the CT sections 105, 107 and 109 close so as to cover drone 300 and enclose it from the outside environment and DDP 100 reverts to an inactive mode where drone 300 remains until the next drone 300 activation after drone batteries are fully recharged.

[0060] FIG. 3A shows the top view of docking plate 210, landing cones 220 and landing gear holes 221 at the bottom portion of the landing cones 220. Docking plate 210 further displays distinguishing marks 227 and 228 for drone 300 landing orientation and selecting of landing cones with distinguishing rings 223, 224 and 225 on landing cones 220 to aid in precise drone 300 landing maneuvers for precision docking. Landing gear feet cameras 334 forward video data to the docking processor module 375 comprising a video processing unit and neural network. The video processing unit and neural network recognize and identify distinguishing marks 227 and 228 and provided drone flight control signals to properly maneuver the drone for docking. Once drone 300 is properly oriented for docking, video processing unit and neural network recognize and identify distinguishing rings 223, 224 and 225 and landing gear hole 221 and provide drone flight control signals to properly maneuver the drone 300 landing gear feet 331 to enter the landing cone holes 221 and to dock drone 300 in a precise manner.

[0061] FIG. 3B shows the side sectional view of docking plate 210 and support plate 215 to include support rods 212, landing cones 220, landing gear holes 221, recharging pad 217 and recharging pad insulator 218. Upon landing, landing gear feet 331 make electrical contact with recharging pads 217, initiating drone 300 battery recharging. Landing gear latch 336 or docking plate latch first compresses, allowing the drone 300 to land, then springs into place latching landing gear leg 330 into place. When two or more landing gear legs 330 are latched the drone 300 is in the captured position.

[0062] FIG. 4A shows a side sectional view of landing gear legs 330 to including landing gear foot 331, center hole 332, docking camera 334, landing gear latch 336 and landing gear actuator 337 in the inactive or deactivated position. Docking camera 334 is in a fixed position with the lens pointing straight downward and through Landing gear foot 331 center hole 332, so as to observe and identify distinguishing marks 227 and 228, distinguishing rings 223, 224 and 225, and landing cone hole 221 to aid in precision docking.

[0063] FIG. 4B shows a side sectional view of landing gear legs 330 including landing gear latch 336 and landing gear actuator 337 in the activated position. When in the activated position, landing gear latch 336 is actuated and disengages landing gear leg 330 from landing gear hole 221 and allows drone 300 takeoff.

[0064] FIG. 5 shows a side sectional view of docked drone 300, docking plate 210, support plate 215, support rods 212 including landing cones 220, recharging pads 217, recharging pad insulators 218, with docked drone 300, landing gear legs 330 and landing gear latch 336 in an inactive or deactivated or captured state.

[0065] FIG. 6 shows a sectional side view of DDP 100 residing on support pole top 400 and CT sections 105, 107 and 109 in the down or open position with all CT sections 105, 107 & 109 stored within DDP enclosure base 101, fully exposing the docked drone 300 to the environment. The interior of the DDP 100 includes DDP support pillar 120 supporting docking plate 210, support rods 212, support plate 215, CM 270, DDP battery pack 275, and air conditioning unit 280, with docked drone 300 ready for takeoff or recently landed.

[0066] FIG. 7 shows a sectional side view of DDP 100 residing on support pole top 400 and CT sections 105, 107 and 109 in the up or closed position with all CT sections 105, 107, & 109 rotated to completely enclose docked drone 300 and protect it from the outside environment. Shown are the optional solar panels 106, 108 and 110 located on each of the CT sections 105, 106 and 108 respectively. The solar panels 106, 108 and 110 provide sufficient power to all internal DDP 100 devices to include CM 270, CT motor, DDP battery pack 275 recharger, and docked drone 300 battery recharger. For locations where CT mounted solar panels 106, 108 and 110 will not have sufficient power to support the DDP 100 devices, secondary pole mounted solar panels may be employed for off-the-grid systems. Also shown are the docking plate 210, support plate 215, CM 270, DDP battery pack 275 and air conditioning unit 280.

[0067] FIG. 8 shows a side view of Drone 300 with propellers 310 and landing gear assembly 350. The landing gear assembly 350 includes landing gear shroud, landing gear legs 330, multicolor LED (light emitting diode) traffic signal light 360 and shroud camera 370.

[0068] FIG. 9A shows a top view of landing gear assembly 350 interior including landing gear shroud side plates 351, 352, 353 and 354, landing gear legs 330, shroud cameras 370 on each of landing shroud side plates 351, 352, 353 and 354, and docking processor module 375. Landing gear assembly 350 surrounds landing gear legs 330 and consists of four side plates 351, 352, 353 and 354, a bottom plate (not shown), and docking processor module 375 affixed to the landing gear legs 330 to make up landing gear assembly 350. Landing gear assembly 350 is affixed or attached to a drone 300. Landing gear shroud sides 351, 352, 353 and 354 also contain shroud camera 370 on each of landing gear shroud sides 351, 352, 353 and 354 to enable observers to view a direction of traffic and assist in the control of traffic flow around an incident. The shroud camera video output stream communicates with and is processed through docking processor module 375.

[0069] FIG. 9B shows a side view of a landing gear assembly 350 exterior including affixed multicolor LED lights 360 displaying a high illumination green, yellow, red and/or white light color on each landing gear shroud side 351, 352, 353 and 354, suitable for traffic signals and white light so as to assist emergency personnel with overhead illumination. When two opposing landing gear shroud sides display a green or yellow signal light to a direction of traffic, the two 90 degree opposing sides display a red signal light for the opposing direction of traffic. Multicolor LED lights 360 are controlled by docking processor module 375 and docking processor module 375 communicates with the central monitoring center and/or emergency personnel located at the scene via remote control units or cell phone apps, so that emergency personnel or police can control multicolor LED lights 360 and traffic flow around an incident or accident. Docking processor module 375 includes a signal light controller and also communicates directly with autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles for a signal light status or change.

[0070] FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of a docking processor module 375. Docking processor module 375 comprises a video processing unit and a neural network with appropriate input and output capability. The video processing unit provides feature extraction and other video or signal processing techniques and outputs this data to a neural network. The neural network uses the video processing unit data and/or has the ability to input and process raw video data, and provide flight control parameters as an output. Inputs to the docking processor module 375 consist of video from the docking cameras 334, and from communication links from the central monitoring center. Outputs from the docking processor module 375 include flight control instructions for precise maneuvering and landing, video output communication links to central monitoring center and emergency personnel, autonomous vehicles and video storage SD card. The vision processing unit and neural network use deep learning and/or fast learning techniques and algorithms to detect and recognize distinguishing markings on the docking plate 210 and to determine drone 300 orientation, location and corrective action required to successfully and autonomously land or dock drone 300.

[0071] The vision processing unit and/or neural network Chip as manufactured by INTEL, NVIDIA, QUALCOM, GENERAL VISION and others may be used for processing. INTEL has a several vision processing unit chips, including one that features a neural compute engine with 16 core processors each providing the ability to perform separate pipeline algorithms, sensor fusion and/or convolution neural networks all in a low power chip suitable for battery operation. The neural compute engine portion adds hardware accelerators designed to dramatically increase performance of deep neural networks without including the low power characteristics of the chip. Known software and algorithms will be applied to this chip or others to detect, recognize and analyze vehicles, vehicular incidence and/or accidents, vehicles in a traffic lane, as well as drone 300 position and orientation to provide flight controls to precisely dock a drone 300. INTEL and GENERAL VISION both have low power chips that perform RBF (Radial Basis Function) neural networks in real time and can be considered fast learning (as opposed to deep learning) processors. GENERAL VISIONS's chips have 576 neurons with low power characteristics in a very small package, where each neuron consists of a processor and memory. Neurons can be configured in parallel or hierarchical and suitable for fast or real time learning and provides real time image or signal detection, classification and recognition. These processors (chips) are taught and not necessarily programmed, so programming is simplified and known by technologists in that field. Furthermore, GENERAL VISION's NEUROMEM Technology can be implemented in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips and has been previously implemented on an INTEL chip and vision sensor die from OMNIVISION as a single chip camera solution.

[0072] Sensor data that is processed on neural network architectures, designed specifically around the Radial Basis Function (RBF) or K Nearest Neighbor modes of operation, can be considered an expert system, which recognizes and classifies objects or situations and makes instantaneous decisions, based on accumulated knowledge. It accumulates its knowledge ‘by example’ from data samples and corresponding categories. Its generalization capability allows it to react correctly to objects or situations that were not part of the learning examples. The learning capability of an RBF neural network model is not limited in time, as opposed to some other models. It is capable of additional learning while performing classification tasks. The RBF mode of operation allows for instant “learning on the fly”. As an example, tracking a vehicle, an operator can select an object to be tracked by placing a region of interest (ROI) around the object and selecting this region with a mouse click while neural network is in its learning mode, feature extraction algorithms may be applied (neural network can work with raw data or feature extracted data), data from the ROI will be loaded into the memory block automatically and sequentially (requiring from one to a multitude of neurons), thus training neural network from a single frame of imagery and in real time. Once learned, neural network will input the second frame of imagery, compare data from the entire frame with the neuron memory contents, find a match, classify the match, and provide an X-Y (coordinates) position or location output. This X-Y output will allow an associated pan and tilt mechanism to track the object of interest in real time. This process continues for each successive frame. In the event the vehicle turns or changes shape in relation to the camera location, the degraded quality of the neuron memory comparison will trigger the neural network learning mode to capture this changed data and commit more neurons for the new object shape. This neural network will simultaneously and continuously track the object, allowing itself the ability to track even as new patterns are learned.

[0073] Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions today typically require high performance computers and/or parallel processors running AI or neural network software performing “Deep Learning” on back propagation and other neural networks. These systems can be large, consume significant power and be very costly for both the hardware and software. The learning phase for Deep Learning neural networks is generally performed in data centers or the “Cloud” and takes huge computing resources that can take days to process depending on the data set and number of levels in the network. After the network has been generated it can be downloaded to relatively low power processing systems (Target Systems) in the field. However, these target systems are typically not capable of embedded learning, and generally consist of powerful PCs and GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) acceleration resulting in significant cost and power consumption. Additionally, as the training dataset grows during the learning phase, there is no guarantee that the target hardware will remain sufficient and users may have to upgrade their target systems to execute properly after a new network has been generated during the learning phase. The major limitation to this approach is that new training data cannot be incorporated directly and immediately in the executable knowledge. It often also requires a fair amount of hand coding and tuning to deliver useful performance on the target hardware and is therefore not easily portable. Unlike Deep Learning networks, the neural network based on RBF networks can be easily mapped on hardware because the structure of the network does not change with the learned data. This ability to map the complete network on specialized hardware allows RBF networks to reach unbeatable performances in terms of speed and power dissipation both for learning and recognition. Preferably, the neural network has a NeuroMem™ architecture.

[0074] For traffic flow determination, low and constant latency is a very desirable feature as it guarantees high and predictable results. With Deep Learning, latency varies. Typically, the more the system learns, the slower it becomes. This is due to the Von Neumann architecture bottlenecks found in all computers which run sequential programs. Even the most modern multi-core architectures, even the best GPU or VPU architectures have limitations to their parallelism because some resources (cache, external memory access, bus access, etc.) are shared between the cores and therefore limit their true parallelism. The NeuroMem™ architecture goes beyond the Von Neumann paradigm and, thanks to its in-memory processing and fully parallel nature does not slow down when the training dataset grows. In fact, any environment which needs on-the-job learning, fast and predictable latency, easy auditing of decisions is likely to be better served by RBF neural networks, rather than by Deep Learning neural networks.

[0075] FIG. 11 shows a block logic diagram of DDP 100, CM 270 and docking processor module 375 and signal controller. The DDP 100 contains CM 270 that controls all aspects of the DDP 100 to include: CT opening and closing, DDP battery pack recharging, drone battery recharging and communications capabilities from other traffic sensor systems, central monitoring stations, first responder personnel and to act as a relay communications device to the drone in flight and/or other drones in flight in the near vicinity. CM 270 would relay video signals to the central monitoring center and provide for video recording at or in close proximity to the CM 270. CM 270 would also relay flight or camera control signals and audio commands from the central monitoring center to the drone 300 in flight, giving central monitoring center personnel the ability to override autonomous drone flight control should they desire. For example, CM 270 receives a traffic alert from a Traffic Flow Sensor System (TFSS) of a nearby traffic accident. The TFSS is a separate device and consists of an EO/IR camera, stereo camera pair, lidar and/or radar sensors and any combination thereof to detect and monitor traffic flow and abnormal traffic flow to include traffic incidence. Upon the TFSS issuing a traffic alert of an incident or accident, CM 270 initiates a signal to a central monitoring center, and the FAA for flight approval. Once approved, CM 270 signals DDP 100 to open CT and when open to start the drone propellers 310 and commence autonomous drone flight—to takeoff, fly to and hover over the accident, take photographs and videos of the scene and assist in accident scene forensics and to assist police in clearing the scene more rapidly, so as to resume normal traffic flow. Central monitoring center personnel have the ability to override the autonomous drone control at anytime to aid in the resolution and clearing of traffic incidence. Designated emergency personnel with first-hand knowledge of the incident would also have the ability to override the autonomous drone control at anytime to aid in the resolution and clearing of traffic incidence through their remote control devices or cell phone apps at the incident scene. Docking processor module 375 and signal light controller also communicates directly with autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles for a signal light status or change. The communication is selected from the group consisting of a Bluetooth communication, LoRa Communication, an internet communication, a cell phone network communication (4G/5G), an independent intranet network communication, an RF communication, a wired communication, or an optic fiber communication. Preferably, the data, video, audio and remote control commands are communicated or streamed in real time with very low latency in both directions—to and from the deployed drone 300, DDP 100 and central monitoring center. In the event of a malfunction, a malfunction signal or code will be sent to the central traffic control monitoring center for resolution.

[0076] FIG. 12 shows a Remote Control Unit (RCU) 400 in another embodiment.

[0077] As explained above, various embodiments of the present invention use similar technology as implemented in consumer drones or cell phones with very small, lightweight, low power and low price (SWAP) components and powered by solar panels and rechargeable batteries. Coupled with LED's as traffic signals and overhead lighting, drone deployment from drone docking ports could substantially reduce the time and costs involved in resolving traffic incidents or accidents at the scene, direct traffic around the accident more efficiently, saving drivers time, fuel and cost and potentially save lives.

[0078] An advantage of the disclosed drone docking port is the ability to place (especially autonomous) drones in strategic locations along highways or traffic intersections conducive to rapid deployment to incidents, events and/or traffic accidents as first responders. These autonomous drones would reside in their drone docking ports until an incident arises, then be deployed, providing emergency and central monitoring center personnel live video of the scene with the ability to provide two way audio to injured or other persons, then to aid emergency personnel in directing vehicle traffic efficiently and safely around an incident and resolving the incident in a timely fashion.

[0079] The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.