Patents by Inventor Kevin J. ALLEY

Kevin J. ALLEY has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Optical state estimation and simulation environment for unmanned aerial vehicles
    Patent number: 8942964
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and system for simulating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and simulating an environment in which the UAV may be flying. A plurality of visual sensors, e.g., cameras, positioned on the UAV, may be simulated. A UAV simulator is configured to simulate the UAV and a graphical simulator is configured to simulate the environment. The UAV simulator may be configured to: estimate pitch, roll and/or groundspeed based, at least in part, on outputs from the visual sensors, determine a position and/or an orientation of the simulated UAV in the simulated environment based, at least in part, on the estimate(s) and provide the position and/or orientation to the graphical simulator. The graphical simulator may be configured to display the simulated UAV at the position and/or orientation in the simulated environment and/or to display the simulated camera view(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Southwest Research Institute
    Inventors: George T. McWilliams, III, Kevin J. Alley, Christopher I. Mentzer
  • Optical State Estimation And Simulation Environment For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
    Publication number: 20110301925
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and system for simulating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and simulating an environment in which the UAV may be flying. A plurality of visual sensors, e.g., cameras, positioned on the UAV, may be simulated. A UAV simulator is configured to simulate the UAV and a graphical simulator is configured to simulate the environment. The UAV simulator may be configured to: estimate pitch, roll and/or groundspeed based, at least in part, on outputs from the visual sensors, determine a position and/or an orientation of the simulated UAV in the simulated environment based, at least in part, on the estimate(s) and provide the position and/or orientation to the graphical simulator. The graphical simulator may be configured to display the simulated UAV at the position and/or orientation in the simulated environment and/or to display the simulated camera view(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Applicant: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: George T. McWILLIAMS, III, Kevin J. ALLEY, Christopher I. MENTZER