Methods and systems for cloud-based management of images captured by aerial vehicles
Inventors
Kanji, Nazlin • Aragon, Greg • Hall, Carolyn
Assignees
Publication Number
US-11919639-B2
Publication Date
2024-03-05
Expiration Date
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Abstract
Systems, devices, and methods for receiving image data; transferring the captured image data to a server having a processor and addressable memory via a network-connected computing device; storing the captured image data on the server; generating captured image metadata based on the stored captured image data; providing access to the captured image data and captured image metadata via an image management component; displaying, by the image management component, the captured image data; and filtering, by the image management component, the captured image data based on the generated captured image metadata.
Core Innovation
The disclosed invention provides systems, devices, and methods for receiving image data; transferring the captured image data to a server having a processor and addressable memory via a network-connected computing device; storing the captured image data on the server; generating captured image metadata based on the stored captured image data; providing access to the captured image data and captured image metadata via an image management component; displaying, by the image management component, the captured image data; and filtering, by the image management component, the captured image data based on the generated captured image metadata.
The invention addresses challenges arising as aerial vehicles have grown in size and complexity and the amount of land covered and data that can be captured by aerial vehicles has increased by providing cloud-based storage, processing, co-registration, correlation, visualization, and analytics of captured image, LIDAR and other sensor data, including multi-spectral images, via an image management component that can co-register images to a high level of precision and display correlated images with a moveable visual dividing line.
Claims Coverage
This section identifies 10 inventive features extracted from two independent claims.
Capturing image data via a VTOL aerial vehicle
capturing image data via a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle
Transmitting captured image data to a server via a network-connected computing device
transmitting the captured image data to a server having a processor and addressable memory via a network-connected computing device
Correlating a first captured image with a second captured image by an image management component
correlating, by an image management component, a first captured image data with a second captured image data
Displaying correlated images with a moveable visual dividing line
displaying, by the image management component, both the first captured image data and the second captured image data concurrently, wherein a visual dividing line separates the first captured image data from the second captured image data, the visual dividing line being moveable by a user
Defining a ground region for capturing one or more images
defining a ground region for capturing one or more images
Receiving image data from an aerial vehicle and one or more satellite images
receiving image data of the defined ground region from an aerial vehicle and one or more satellite images, wherein the aerial vehicle is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle
Processing the image data
processing the image data
Providing access to processed image data via an image management component
providing access to the processed image data via an image management component
Correlating first and second captured image data via the image management component
correlating, by the image management component, a first captured image data with a second captured image data
Displaying both first and second captured image data concurrently with a moveable dividing line
displaying, by the image management component, both the first captured image data and the second captured image data concurrently, wherein a visual dividing line separates the first captured image data from the second captured image data, the visual dividing line being moveable by a user
The independent claims principally cover: capturing image data with VTOL aerial vehicles; transmitting and storing captured image data on a server; processing and providing access to processed image data via an image management component; correlating and co-registering multiple captured images; and concurrently displaying correlated images with a user-moveable visual dividing line.
Stated Advantages
May allow users to better gather information relating to the lands flown over.
Higher resolution captured image data from low-altitude aerial vehicles provides a more robust anomaly detection system and can notify users earlier of anomalies.
Higher ground sample distance (GSD) accuracy relative to airplane images and satellite images, yielding an approximately accurate resolution down to within about twelve inches.
Provides analytics such as canopy coverage, anomaly coverage, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) profiles based on stored image data.
Documented Applications
Management of imagery data associated with a user account, including adding locations to be imaged, adding season dates, adding crop types, adding user-generated tags, filters, and notes via a dashboard.
Generating canopy coverage and anomaly coverage analytics for determined areas and sending warnings or messages when determined anomaly levels exceed set amounts.
Generating normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) profiles of determined ground regions based on stored image data.
Exporting generated reports for use in a farm management system to determine specific crop spraying programs and for tractors with variable output technology to increase efficiency of fertilizer and/or weed killer usage.
Survey app system to ground truth system data and add user-collected notes and images to the cloud-based image management system.
LIDAR processing and merger to take raw LIDAR data collected from an aerial platform for pre-processing, generate final LIDAR output log files, and produce geotagged LIDAR data for mapping components and survey reports.
Geotagger tools to geotag images, correlate images to actual collection points on the ground, and provide annotated image views.
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