Distributed Drone System and Drone The invention refers to a Distributed Drone System according to the preamble of claim 1 and a Drone according to the pre ^¬ amble of claim 7.

A field of application for drones besides the known fields relating to military, observation and transport purposes is the typical field of inventorying commodities, goods or ob ^¬ jects, in particular those usually longer than lm, located inside of large Outdoor Areas. In the following in place of all cited things or parts being inventoried the term "Object" will be used. Besides the inventorying purpose of Objects other similar purposes are conceivable such as the spotting, tagging, localizing and registering of Objects.

One example of this scenario is the construction site of a power generation plant, where usually a so-called "Layout Ar ^¬ ea" is set up of about 200m x 200m. The use of drones for in ^¬ ventorying purposes is not limited to such power generation plants. It is also conceivable that the drones can be used with respect to objects or goods located on other "Layout Ar- eas" of large Outdoor Areas such as Plant Grounds. The "Lay ^¬ out Area" area works as a buffer for Obj ects, which will be required in the upcoming months. The Layout Area has no in ^¬ frastructure inside; no walls, no telephone or illumination posts. The edges of the area may sometimes be delimited by a fence and illumination posts. The amount of Objects stored simultaneously inside the Layout Area is around 4000, and more than 20.000 Objects would have gone through here before the end of the project. In a typical well-known case, this "Layout Area" (open area) is managed by a 5-person team, which tries to document the approximate position of the Objects within this area. In a real construction, 3% of the parts are not found in time, meaning that they are found several months later. During this time, new parts have to be ordered, transported, taxed and paid so that the delays caused in the construction don't lead to monetary fines.

In a typical Outdoor Area such as a gas-power electrical plant, the direct costs (ordering, transport and tax) could be calculated easily up to 2.5 million Euros. In addition, the management of the Layout Area is usually outsourced to an external company, with a cost of 1.1 million Euros for the 18-month construction period.

As mentioned before, the typical 5-person team does most of the work manually. Even though a computerized inventory sys- tern documents what goes in and what goes out, the position of the parts inside the layout area is only broadly known, using "quadrants" as base (dividing the area in four parts, each of 100m x 100m) . No "Global Navigation Satellite System" (GNSS) equipment is carried by the personnel, but even if all users had the "Global Navigation Satellite System" (GNSS) and all users had perfect discipline to write down every single move ^¬ ment in the inventory, it would still only achieve an accura ^¬ cy of 300m ² due to the inaccuracy of GNSS-positions (typical error from 3- 10m) .

It is an object of the invention to propose a Distributed Drone System and a Drone, which enables an improved and cost- efficient way for at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventorying Objects located inside large Outdoor Areas, in particular Layout Areas of Plant Grounds .

This object is solved based on a Distributed Drone System de ^¬ fined in the preamble of claim 1 by the features in the char- acterizing part of claim 1. This object is further solved based on a Drone defined in the preamble of claim 7 by the features in the characterizing part of claim 7. The main idea of the invention is to propose a technical so ^¬ lution, which has several components, but can be summarized as an "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" ( UAV ) commonly known as a Drone, which is constructed or designed to a multi-component Front-End of a corresponding Distributed Drone System being supported by a multi-component Back-End of the corresponding Distributed Drone System, flying at very low altitude over a Layout Area of an Outdoor Area, reading information of "Ultra High Frequency ( UHF ) Radio Frequency Identification ( RF I D ) " - Transponder located on Objects for at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventorying purposes.

The proposed solution, a Distributed Drone System according to the claim 1 including the Front-End and the Back-End each with multiple components forming a first Functional Unit and a Drone according to the claim 6 including multiple compo ^¬ nents forming a first Functional Unit, proposed will be a combination of several components.

A first component: An "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" ( UAV ) includ- ing preferably a Rotary-Wing.

This Drone respectively the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" ( UAV ) will carry the following additions: - An Exoskeleton: This exoskeleton will surround the

craft, absorbing and deflecting energy from any collisions so that the rotors are not affected and flight can continue without a pause. This exoskeleton may be me ^¬ chanically isolated for better results.

This exoskeleton is essential for such a solution due to edges, cables and many other obstacles within rough en ^¬ vironments . An "Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency IDentifi- cation (RFID) " -Reading Device including an antenna

(ideally a high gain antenna) : Out of the different RFID-standards , "UHF RFID" allow for the largest reading distance of passive RFID-transponders . An adequately powered RFID-reader and a correspondingly high gain antenna can achieve a reading distance of up to 10m.

A "Real Time Kinematic (RTK)"- or "Precise Point Position ^¬ ing (PPP) "-enabled "Global Navigation Satellite System"- Receiver for determining the position of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle": In a first variant a GNSS-Receiver with the support of Real Time Kinematic (RTK) achieves the same absolute position accuracy than any other GNSS- device, which is typically less than 10 meters. However, RTK allows for a very accurate relative position rela ^¬ tive to another RTK-enabled GNSS-receiver . This is achieved by measuring the phase shift in the carrier signal sent by the GNSS-satellites , instead of looking at the information content of the signal. In a second variant, a PPP-enabled GNSS-Receiver allows for very ac ^¬ curate absolute position by calculating the clock errors of the satellites. Both, the RTK- enabled GNSS-Receiver and the PPP-enabled GNSS-Receiver, deliver an accuracy of 2-3 centimeters.

A Data Storage Unit: This unit stores the position, in which each "UHF RFID"-Transponder was read.

A Communication Device: One feature of the Communication Device is a wireless communication to take place between the Drone and the Back-End, which includes a Ground Sta ^¬ tion to relay Inventory Data and for allowing a direct control of the Drone. This wireless configuration may also be used to find the Drone if it can no longer fly. Another feature of the Communication device would be a wired communication link, which will be connected at a Charging Station of the Back-End (By the way: The charging station is the third component , which will be de ^¬ fined later) . Electricity Generation Unit: The Drone will require an important amount of electrical power for the electronic equipment and, under some circumstances, for the motors. This can be done through batteries or an onboard genera ^¬ tor .

This generator could be a fuel cell or a combustion engine for a series-hybrid concept. This series-hybrid is common for large ships like cruise liners where the electrical power for motors and all infrastructure is generated by large diesel engines.

The drone's motors don't have to be electrical, as they may function through a combustion engine. As a side note, it is theoretically possible for the drone to be energy autarkic (e.g. use solar panels for energy); however, due to the large amount of energy required this is currently very unlikely.

Optional components : a series of optional components may be included in the drone. For example, a laser- or ra ^¬ dar-based distance measuring device would be able to measure the distance between the drone and any objects located below, so that obstacles may be avoided more ef ^¬ ficiently. Another example would be a radar or ultra ^¬ sound-based distance measuring hardware. Yet a further example of an optional component is a camera, which could build a bird' s eye view of the layout area every time it flies around.

A second component : This includes a group of passive "UHF RFID"-Transponders tagging the Objects and parts of the Power Plants or Plant Grounds. This provides a unique identifica ^¬ tion that can be read from a distance of up to 10 meters.

A third component: This is a Charging Station, which will be able to charge the Drone when it lands in a specific area. Charging may be done using a mechanically connected cable, or by wireless means (e.g. induction, light, magnetic reso ^¬ nance) . If the Drone uses liquid fuel, the station will then fill the tank of the Drone. As an option, wired data communication capabilities may also be provided in this component.

A fourth component : This is a further RTK-enabled GNSS- Receiver, which is different than the one included in the Drone. This receiver will be in a fixed and known position, and will act as a reference to the GNSS-Receiver on the

Drone. This component will not be required if the GNSS- Receiver in the Drone is PPP-enabled or supports "Precise Point Positioning".

A fifth component: This is a communication infrastructure, which may be wireless. This infrastructure will provide a backbone for the transfer of information between the compo- nents available.

A sixth component: This is a Handheld Device which includes a further "Real Time Kinematic (RTK)"- or "Precise Point Posi ^¬ tioning (PPP) "-enabled "Global Navigation Satellite System"- Receiver, which will help the users of the layout area locate the parts being required. A User Interface (which may prefer ^¬ ably be interactive) will be running on this Handheld Device.

A seventh component : This is Software Module for Position Drift Compensation which will take the position information of all GNSS-Receivers and will be able to determine the

Drone's absolute position within centimeters. This is manda ^¬ tory if the Drone's GNSS-Receiver supports "Real Time Kine ^¬ matic" instead of "Precise Point Positioning". However, if the GNSS-Receiver supports "Precise Point Positioning", the Soft ^¬ ware Module is not required.

An eighth component: This is a Processing Unit, in particular for the inventory purpose an Inventory Unit. This Pro- cessing/Inventory Unit will receive the data of the read "UHF RFID"-Transponders and the corresponding position, so it can be accessed easily. Optimization of the received information may preferably take place as part of this component. A ninth component : This is an optional component and is a 3D- Navigation Unit, which will receive the absolute position of the Drone, keep a history of it, and will plot navigation waypoints so that the drone can follow. This will help to cover the whole Layout Area in a faster way, by avoiding pre ^¬ viously detected obstacles.

Several of the components mentioned can be joined into the same hardware device. As an example, the seventh and eighth component may be bundled together.

From the monetary point of view, the proposed technical solu ^¬ tion is extremely low cost, when comparing the investment cost with the investment return. For an overall cost of under 15.000€, direct costs of over one million Euros per site / installation and per year can be saved, leading to an amazingly large rate of return of over. From the complexity point of view, the proposed system will work automatically. No interaction will be required. No human error can affect the Distributed Drone System and the Drone.

The proposed technical solution will reduce the amount of man power required to manage the Layout Area, greatly enhancing the efficiency of their work.

A nominal flight height of 10 meters and a directional anten ^¬ na would be a sufficient area.

An alternative option for the first component outlined above, which would also solve the problem, though very inefficient ^¬ ly, is to have active "UHF RFID"-Transponders (active meaning battery-powered) on each of the Objects in the Outdoor Area respectively the Layout Area. Very few long-range, high- accuracy localization systems exist in the market, and those that do exist are very expensive. Each Object would require an active "UHF RFID"-Transponder which can be obtained for a price between €5 and €500.

Such transponders have a limited battery lifetime so that ad- ditional maintenance costs could occur. In addition, infra ^¬ structure will be required to be built around the Layout Area which costs between €100 000 and €300 000. As outlined be ^¬ fore, such a technical solution would solve the problem at hand, reducing the overall costs; it is however several times more expensive than the proposed technical solution according to the invention.

Another, also less efficient solution, would be to give the 5-person team responsible for the Layout Area an RTK-enabled GNSS-Receiver . With a lot of discipline and a lot of manual work, the status of the Layout Area would improve, when com ^¬ pared to the current way such areas are managed. This would, however, require a lot of work by the 5-person team, and never be as accurate as the Distributed Drone System and the Drone proposed according to the invention.

Other expedient improvements of the invention are stated in the dependent claims. Moreover advantageous further developments of the invention arise out of the following description of a preferred embodi ^¬ ment of the invention according to the FIGURES 1 and 2. They show : FIGURE 1 a schematic view of a Distributed Drone System for at least one of inventorying, spotting, tagging, localizing and registering Objects located inside a Layout Area of a large Outdoor Area being part of a Plant Ground. FIGURE 2 a block diagram of the Distributed Drone System ac ^¬ cording to the FIGURE 1 including the multi-component Front- End constructed or designed to the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" (UAV) and the multi-component Back-End. FIGURE 1 depicts a schematic view of a Distributed Drone Sys ^¬ tem DDS for at least one of inventorying, spotting, tagging, localizing and registering Objects OBT located inside of a Layout Area LOA of a large Outdoor Area ODA being part of a Plant Ground PLG. The Distributed Drone System DDS encom ^¬ passes a multi-component Front-End FRE constructed to an "Un ^¬ manned Aerial Vehicle" UAV setting up as a Drone DRO and a multi-component Back-End BAE supporting the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respectively the Drone DRO. For at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventorying the Objects OBT located inside the Layout Area LOA of the Plant Ground PLG the Front-End FRE set up as the Drone DRO and the Back-End BAE formed a first Functional Unit FTU1.

The Drone DRO includes an Engine ENG with preferably Rotary- Wings ROW for vertical take-off and landing the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV. The Engine ENG is thereby preferably constructed to at least one of an Electrical-Engine E-ENG, a Fuel-Engine F-ENG and a Fuel Cell-Engine FC-ENG. In order to protect the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV against collisions by at least one of absorbing and deflecting the energy released by the collisions, when the Drone DRO is flying over the Layout Area LOA of the Plant Ground PLG the Drone DRO comprises an Exoskeleton EXS .

The multi-component Back-End BAE is preferably separated in two parts, a Stationary Back-End S-BAE and a Mobile Back-End M-BAE. While the Stationary Back-End S-BAE is preferably in- door located, e.g. in a building of the Plant Ground PLG, the Mobile Back-End M-BAE is preferably constructed as a Handheld Device HHD, which can be used outdoor, e.g. in the Outdoor Area ODA, as well as indoor, e.g. in a building of the Plant Ground PLG. The Handheld Device HHD includes a, particularly interactive, User Interface UIF running on the Handheld De ^¬ vice HHD helping a user, who is located inside the Outdoor Area ODA, in order to locate the Objects OBT being required. Both, the Stationary Back-End S-BAE and the Mobile Back-End M-BAE are part of a wireless communication infrastructure within the formed first Function Unit FTUl providing a backbone for the transfer of information between the components of the Front-End FRE respectively the "Unmanned Aerial Vehi ^¬ cle" UAV and drone-external components outside the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV, which are the components of the Back-End BAE, S-BAE, M-BAE. Each Object OBT located inside the Layout Area LOA comprises an "Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) "-Transponder URTP which transmits each "UHF RFID"- Signals UHFS . Thus, when the Drone DRO is flying over the Layout Area LOA the Drone DRO, which includes an "Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) "-

Reading Device URRD receives the "UHF RFID"-Signals UFS . The "UHF RFID"-Signals UFS include Transponder Data TPD and Posi ^¬ tion Data POD of the "UHF RFID"-Transponder URTP. FIGURE 2 shows a block diagram of the Distributed Drone Sys ^¬ tem DDS according to the FIGURE 1 including the multi- component Front-End FRE constructed or designed to the "Un ^¬ manned Aerial Vehicle" UAV and the multi-component Back-End BAE preferably separated in the two parts, the Stationary Back-End S-BAE and the Mobile Back-End M-BAE.

The Front-End FRE of the Distributed Drone System DDS setting up the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respectively the Drone DRO includes besides the before mentioned Engine ENG with the Rotary-Wings ROW preferably constructed to at least one of the Electrical-Engine E-ENG, the Fuel-Engine F-ENG and the Fuel Cell-Engine FC-ENG as well as the Exoskeleton EXS for protecting the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV against colli ^¬ sions and the "Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) "-Reading Device URRD receiving the "UHF RFID"-Signals UFS with the Transponder Data TPD and the Posi ^¬ tion Data POD of the "UHF RFID"-Transponder URTP located on the Objects OBT further the following components: (i) A first "Real Time Kinematic (RTK)"- or "Precise Point Po ^¬ sitioning (PPP) "-enabled "Global Navigation Satellite System"- receiver GNSS-R1 for determining the position of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV;

(ii) a Data Storage Unit DSU storing at least and preferably Inventory Data IVD, which contains the position of each localized Object OBT;

(iii) a Communication Device COD for at least one of relaying the stored data in real time, controlling the "Unmanned Aeri- al Vehicle" UAV directly and finding the "Unmanned Aerial Ve ^¬ hicle" UAV, if it can no longer fly;

(iv) an Electricity Generation Unit EGU based on at least one of at least one battery, accumulator and onboard generator;

(v) a laser-, ultrasound- or radar-based Distance Measuring Device DMD measuring the distance between the "Unmanned Aeri ^¬ al Vehicle" UAV and the Object OBT;

(vi) a Camera CAM to have a bird's eye view of the Outdoor Area ODA and

(vii) a 3D-Navigation Unit NVU for at least one of determin- ing the absolute position of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV keeping a flight history of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV and plotting navigation waypoints the "Unmanned Aerial Vehi ^¬ cle" UAV can follow. While the components (i) to (iv) are mandatory for the "Un ^¬ manned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respectively the Drone DRO in or ^¬ der to reach the goal of at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventorying the Objects OBT located inside the large Outdoor Area ODA respectively the Lay- out Area LOA of the Plant Ground PLG depicted in the FIGURE 1, the components (v) to (vii) are optional elements of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respectively the Drone DRO, which if required could upgrade the Drone DRO advantageously. Moreover together with the Engine ENG, E-ENG, F-ENG, FC-ENG, the Exoskeleton EXS and the "UHF RFID"-Reading Device URRD the cited mandatory components (i) to (iv) set up a second Functional Unit FTU2 equipping the Drone DRO already suffi- ciently that the Drone DRO can be used for at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventorying the Objects OBT located inside the large Outdoor Area ODA, in particular the Layout Area LOA of the Plant Ground PLG.

The Back-End BAE, S-BAE, M-BAE of the Distributed Drone Sys ^¬ tem DDS supporting the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respec ^¬ tively the Drone DRO includes

(1) a Charging Station CHS being at least one of connectable to the Engine ENG of the Drone DRO, respectively to at least one of the Electrical-driven Engine E-ENG, the Fuel-driven Engine F-ENG and the Fuel Cell-driven Engine FC-ENG, and to the Electricity Generation Unit EGU of the Drone DRO by a wired connection for recharging or refueling purposes and connectable to at least one of the Electrical-driven Engine E-ENG and the Electricity Generation Unit EGU of the Drone DRO by a wireless link for recharging purposes;

(2) a second "Real Time Kinematic (RTK) "-enabled GNSS- receiver GNSS-R2 with a known and fixed position and used for acting as a reference to the first GNSS-receiver GNSS-R1 on the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV, if the first GNSS-receiver GNSS-R1 on the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV is RTK-enabled;

(3) the Handheld Device HHD with a third "Real Time Kinematic (RTK)"- or "Precise Point Positioning ( PPP) "-enabled GNSS- receiver GNSS-R3 and the, particularly interactive, User In ^¬ terface UIF running on the Handheld Device HHD helping a user of the Outdoor Area ODA in order to locate the Objects OBT being required;

(4) a Software Module for Position Drift Compensation SMPDC for determining the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle' s" UAV absolute position within centimeters, if the first GNSS-receiver GNSS- Rl is RTK-enabled, by taking the position information of all GNSS-receivers GNSS-R1, GNSS-R2, GNSS-R3;

(5) a Processing Unit PRU, in particular an Inventory Unit, for receiving the Transponder Data TPD and the Position Data

POD of the "UHF RFID"-Transponder URTP and in particular for optimizing the stored data regarding a more accurate posi ^¬ tioning of each object OBT located in the Outdoor Area ODA; (6) a Ground Station GST being connected with the Communica ^¬ tion Device COD and being part of a wireless communication infrastructure within the first Functional Unit FTU1 set up providing a backbone for the transfer of information between all components.

Since the wired and wired connection between the Charging Station CHS and the Engine ENG of the Drone DRO, respectively to at least one of the Electrical-driven Engine E-ENG, the Fuel-driven Engine F-ENG and the Fuel Cell-driven Engine FC- ENG, and the Electricity Generation Unit EGU of the Drone DRO is not always present (cf. expressed by the term "connecta- ble") the cited connection Data is depicted in the FIGURE 2 by dot-dashed lines.

To have further support of the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV respectively the Drone DRO by the Back-End BAE, S-BAE, M-BAE in the Distributed Drone System DDS,

the Communication Device COD of the Front-End FRE, UAV and the Charging Station CHS of the Back-End BAE, S-BAE, M-BAE are connected to each other via a wired Data Communication Link DCL for exchanging data and relaying the stored data, when the "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" UAV is recharged or refu ^¬ eled. Since the wired Data Communication Link DCL is optional it is depicted in the FIGURE 2 by dashed lines.

Furthermore the Communication Device COD is connected via a wireless connection with the Processing Unit PR of the Back- End BAE, S-BAE, M-BAE in the Distributed Drone System DDS, which is preferably designed as an Inventory Unit, for trans ^¬ mitting the Transponder Data TPD and the Position Data POD of the "UHF RFID"-Transponder URTP to the Processing Unit PRU, which in particular is used in the course of the at least one of spotting, tagging, localizing, registering and inventory- ing purpose for optimizing the stored data regarding a more accurate positioning of each object OBT located in the Out ^¬ door Area ODA. Moreover the Communication Device COD is connected via a wireless connection with the Handheld Device HHD with the third "Real Time Kinematic (RTK)"- or "Precise Point Position ^¬ ing (PPP) "-enabled GNSS-receiver GNSS-R3 and the, particular ^¬ ly interactive, User Interface UIF running on the Handheld Device HHD helping a user of the Outdoor Area ODA in order t locate the Objects OBT being required.