Drone air traffic control and flight plan management

US9852642B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Eric K. Butler · San Jose, US
• Anca A. Chandra · Los Gatos, US
• Pawan R. Chowdhary · San Jose, US
• Susanne M. Glissmann-Hochstein · Berlin, DE
• Thomas D. Griffin · Campbell, US
• Divyesh Jadav · San Jose, US
• Sunhwan Lee · Menlo Park, US
• Hovey R. Strong, Jr. · San Jose, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 8, 2016
• Grant date: Dec 26, 2017
• Expiry date: Mar 8, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G08G5/76
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

One embodiment provides a method comprising receiving a flight plan request for a drone. The flight plan request comprises a drone identity, departure information, and arrival information. The method further comprises constructing a modified flight plan for the drone based on the flight plan request, wherein the modified flight plan represents an approved, congestion reducing, and executable flight plan for the drone, and the modified flight plan comprises a sequence of four-dimensional (4D) cells representing a planned flight path for the drone. For each 4D cell of the modified flight plan, the method further comprises attempting to place an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell, and in response to a failure to place the exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell, rerouting the modified flight plan around the 4D cell to a random neighboring 4D cell.