APPLICATIONS"

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an amphibian unmanned aerial vehicle (AUAV). More particularly, the present invention relates to the AUAV for assessing quality of water in remote water bodies.

BACKGROUND

Water quality monitoring in remote areas is a challenging task where humans do not have access. The collection of water samples and performing in-situ water analysis is of great interest in clean water technologies. An effective water sampling strategy is critically important as it dictates the extensiveness of laboratory analysis in terms of physical, chemical and biological tests. In conventional methods, the sampling of toxic substances such as heavy metals, organic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, solvents, and PCBs) and harsh water environments are performed in a much-limited way, as a lot of difficulties are faced by volunteers to reach the location and requires a lot of safety procedures. These limitations in sampling results cause inadequate laboratory analysis, resulting in inadequate water investigations. Further, in conventional methods, expensive boats, professional samplers, and safety protocols are used to provide accurate results and operational safety which results in increased cost.

Thus, there is a need to provide an improved device which mitigates the above-mentioned drawbacks.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide amphibian unmanned aerial vehicle (AUAV) for multi-terrain applications.

It is another object of the present invention to provide the AUAV to fly in the air, landing, and gliding along the water and /or land surface for water sampling, assessing and online transfer of some parameters of the quality of water in remote water bodies on a real-time basis. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide the AUAV to collect and carry the required amount of water from the water body for further testing and analysis at research laboratories. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous AUAV. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an amphibian unmanned aerial vehicle (AUAV) for testing and analyzing water quality on real-time basis, the said AUAV comprising an all-terrain airframe, a hovercraft unit comprising a hull in contact with said airframe, a plurality of multicopter units mounted on said hull, a plurality of payloads mounted on said airframe, a water sampling unit mounted on said airframe and a control unit to control flight conditions. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit has an avionic system to enable an on-board transition to multicopter mode or hovercraft mode by controlling the multicopter units and the hovering unit.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the avionic system controls rotation of propeller of the multicopter units in the multicopter mode and at least one EDF of the hovering unit in the hovering mode.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multicopter units includes propellers, arm and brushless DC motors coupled to said arms.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the hovercraft unit comprises any or a combination of a bag type skirt, at least one EDF mounted on a top of the said hull, an EDF mounted on a rear end of said hull, a rudder and blades. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the water sampling unit comprises a probe, water analyzer, a hose tube and a plurality of removable containers. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the probe includes a plurality of sensors, a suction pump, a control board and a water discharge point coupled to said hose tube.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the probe is extendable beyond the skirt height up to the predetermined depth.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control board has a power supply and communication port for communication transmission between the sensors and the avionic system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit comprises a Brain Signal Control, a Voice Control, a Hand Motion Control, an autonomous Board Control, a Remote/radio Control and a GPS control to enable communication transmission with a Ground Control Station and said avionic system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the communication transmission is enabled by Radio Frequency (RF) and/or LTE communication networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of an Amphibian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV).

FIG. 2 illustrates a multicopter module for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) operations.

FIG. 3 illustrates an isometric view of a hovercraft module

FIG. 4 illustrates a water sampling system of the AUAV which includes the sampler mechanism, water storage containers, and the sensor probe.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flight control system of the AUAV.

FIG. 6 illustrates a 3-View diagram of AUAV for Multi-Terrain Operation and specifically illustrating the front view, top view and side view of the AUAV.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of various embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. Each embodiment described in this disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration of the present invention, and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. The present invention relates to an Amphibian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV) which may be a hybrid UAV having ability to transition from a multicopter to a hovercraft and vice- versa during its flight. The AUAV may be used to fly, land and travel on the water and earth's surface to perform specified flight missions as per the user's requirement. According to an embodiment, the AUAV may obtain and assess water quality from a water body on real-time basis, i.e. during the flight and sending the recorded data for analysis, and reducing the human interference and automating the said work.

Fig. 1 illustrates an isometric view of the AUAV (10) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The AUAV (10) is comprised of an all-terrain airframe (12), a plurality of multicopter units (02), a hovercraft unit (04), a plurality of payloads, a control unit (08) includes an avionic system and a water sampling unit. The all-terrain airframe (12) of the AUAV (10) is made of advanced composite materials that can withstand the adversities in water and land. The said airframe (12) is made water resistant and damp resistant. Different views of the AUAV (10) have been illustrated in Fig. 6 of the present application.

Fig. 2 illustrates the multicopter unit (02) of the AUAV (10) according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the multicopoter unit (02) includes a plurality of propellers (20), arms (22), and plurality of Brushless DC motors (21) attached to the arms (22) on the airframe (12). The said DC motors are used to rotate the corresponding propellers (20) which provide the required lift to get the AUAV (10) airborne. The AUAV (10) may include at least eight propellers (20) mounted on at least eight motors (21) attached to the respective arms (22) of the airframe (12) which is connected to a hull (42) of the hovercraft (04). Fig.3 illustrates the hovering unit (04) of the AUAV (10) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The AUAV (10) is designed to perform hovering operations during flight and is comprised of the hovercraft hull (42), a skirt (40), a plurality of Electrical Duct Fans (EDF) (43) mounted on the top of the hovercraft hull (42), a rear mounted Electrical Duct fan (EDF) (44), a rudder (41) and blades. The EDF (43) generates the required cushion pressure to sustain hovering effect with the help of the air filled in a bag type skirt (40). The EDF (44) also generates sufficient thrust by rotating the blades to move the AUAV (10) on water and/or land. The rudder (41) placed on the hull (42) behind the rear mounted EDF (44) is used to vector the thrust force generated by the rear mounted EDF (44) by means of a servo motor (45) which is mounted beside the EDF (44) on the hovercraft hull (42) for direction control along the water and/or land surface. The multiple rotors (02) and the EDF (43, 44) enable the AUAV (10) to fly in the air and to hover in water and/or land.

Fig. 4 illustrates a water sampling unit arranged in the AUAV, which is comprised of a water sampling mechanism having electronics and communication system needed for onsite water quality analysis, a plurality of removable containers (32) for water storage and a probe (30) containing a plurality of sensors and a suction pump. The AUAV (10) may release the sensors into the water up to the required depth and the sensors present in the bay will sense for the various parameters like PH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity (salinity), turbidity, temperature and the like. A hose tube is attached on top of the sampling probe (30) through which the water sample can be transferred through the probe (30) to the water storage containers (32) by using a suction pump. The collected water samples are used for in-depth laboratory analysis. The removable container (32) may be made of plastic, or any other material suitable for the said purpose.

The probe (30) is tightly sealed and waterproofed which can extend to the desired water depth for analysis and water collection. The probe (30) contains the sensors, the suction pump, and a control board. A water discharge point is provided on the top of the probe (30) where the hose tube can be attached to collect the water discharged by the suction pump and transfer it to the water containers (32). A power supply/communication port is provided on the probe (30) for transfer of data/signals between the sensors and the control unit (08) the AUAV (10). The said sensors are enabled to analyze different parameters such as PH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity (salinity), turbidity, the temperature of the water sample, etc. on board in real time. The analyzed results will be communicated to the ground station through the communication modules associated with the control unit (08). The communication modules may use Radio Frequency (RF), LTE communication networks or the like for communication transmission. The real-time data analyzed by the onboard sensors and laboratory results are correlated for better accuracy and all the test results are clustered in a structured database for future analysis. Fig.5 illustrates a flight control unit (08) of the AUAV as per an embodiment of the present invention. The said control unit is comprised of a Brain Signal Control (081), a Voice Control (082), a Hand Motion Control (083), autonomous Board Control (084), a Remote/radio Control (085), a GPS control (086) and a Ground Control Station (GCS) communicating with the control unit (08) of the AUAV (10). The said control unit (08) may be fully manual or semi- autonomous or fully autonomous as per the end user requirement and is further comprised of microprocessor(s), accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), magnetometer/GPS and a barometer for sensing the flight conditions and aid in the autonomous operation of the AUAV (10). The control unit (08) and the Ground station communicate with each other using data communication modules which may be comprised of a communication module that sends command and data to the AUAV (10) which controls the system and receives data from the AUAV (10) to the GCS and/or a communication module that sends command and receives data from the payload. The said communication modules may be enabled by Radio Frequency (RF) or a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) communication networks for communication transmission. Thus, the AUAV has means for being controlled using a Radio controller (RC) and/or a smartphone, tablet and other LTE based devices.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the AUAV (10) has a primary user interface to give inputs such as flight path, flight altitude and GPS location to operate the AUAV (10) autonomously for flying and hovering on water and land without human assistance. The AUAV (10) is configured to perform Vertical Take-Off and Landing Operations (VTOL) and hovering with good maneuverability and stability. The AUAV (10) is configured with various modes to reach the target. The said modes may include flying to the designated location and then landing on water by enabling the hovercraft mode and reaching the destined location as a hovercraft; or by switching between the airborne route and hovering route depending on the user settings and/or battery and the environmental factors.

The said AUAV is configured with on-board transition mechanism to transit from multicopter (02) to hovercraft (04) using a avionic system. The avionic system includes flight control scheme for hovering and flying mode which will enable a controller separately during autonomous operation. After receiving the flying mode command from the control unit (08), the multicopter motors (21) will rotate the propellers (20) to develop the required thrust and achieve desired flight missions. In the hovering mode, the EDFs (43) mounted on the top of the hovercraft hull (42) will generate the required cushion pressure to sustain hovering effect with the help of the air filled in the bag type skirt (40) which is attached to the hull (42) and plenum of the hovercraft (04). In the hovering mode, the EDF (44) mounted at the rear of the hovercraft hull (42) generates sufficient thrust to move the AUAV (10) on water and/or land; and the rudder (41), placed behind the rear mounted EDF (44), is used to vector the thrust force generated by the rear mounted EDF (44) for direction control along the water and/or land surface. A payload system further comprises of a probe controlled to extend beyond the skirt height into the water body to analyze the said water quality parameters and also to pump the water from the water body into the water storage container(s).

During the transition from the multicopter to the hovercraft mode, the plurality of Brushless DC motors (21) attached to the plurality of arms (22) on the airframe reduces the rotation of the propeller (20) which enables the AUAV (10) to decent slowly towards the land or any other kind of surface like a water body. As the AUAV (10) starts descending, the EDF (43) attached to the top of the hull (42) operates to inflate the bag skirt (40) which enables the AUAV (10) to land smoothly on water or land surface. After landing, the rear mounted EDF (44) is operated to enable the AUAV (10) to move in forward direction and the rudder (41) is used to control the heading of AUAV (10).

Accordingly, for transition from hovercraft to multicopter, the thrust from the rear mounted EDF (44) is reduced so that AUAV (10) comes to a halt and the rear mounted EDF (44) is powered off. The plurality of Brushless DC motors (21) attached to the plurality of arms (22) on the airframe rotates the corresponding propellers (20) to provide the required lift to get the AUAV (10) airborne. Then, the EDF (43) used to inflate the skirt 40 is powered off. The motors (21) are then used to maneuver the AUAV (10) during flight.

The avionic system of the AUAV (10) is used to control the entire mission autonomously. The AUAV (10) is operated as a multirotor system equipped with high definition camera to navigate around the water bodies and identify the contaminated regions. The identified locations are further examined using spectral cameras to determine the quality of water.

The AUAV (10) initially functions as a multicopter (02) using the electric motors and it flies along the water body targeted for testing and captures image or video and transmits it to the GCS using data link and/ or video link and/or telemetry in real time. The present invention has been designed keeping in view the requirements of payloads, stability upon the Centre of Gravity (CG), the multicopter (20, 21), the mounting (22), the EDF(s) (43, 44), the rudder (41), integration of sampler mechanisms (31, 32) and other servo (45) and the sensor units (30) for flight missions. The proposed AUAV can be also equipped with spectral camera and other water quality measurement sensors to determine the quality of water.

Since other modifications and changes to fit particular requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited as described by the present preferred embodiments which have been chosen for purpose of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departure from the spirit and scope of this invention.