In a video imaging and transmission system, the entire field of view of camera equipment aboard a remotely piloted vehicle is imaged as high resolution data. This high resolution data is digitized and stored in memory aboard the remote vehicle. In order to reduce the bandwidth of the information which is to be transmitted to a ground-based operator, only a selected portion of the stored high resolution data, corresponding to the output of oculometer and head position equipment that monitors the operator's look angle at a display, is read out from memory and transmitted as high resolution data. The remaining portion of the image provided on the operator's display is comprised of low resolution data derived from the high resolution data stored in memory. Because the high resolution data is obtained from memory and not from the camera equipment directly, the camera is effectively decoupled from the data link. As such, the system permits the camera to be a single movable sensor or an array of multiple fixed sensors. It also substantially increases the speed of operation of the system.
In a remotely piloted surface vehicle a television camera is used to send images to a screen on the operator's station. A computer displays the vehicle's intended path on the screen. The path appears as a computer-generated line superimposed on the image of the vehicle's environment, like a stripe painted on the ground. The operator can change or advance the path on the screen with a cursor control. A computer picks certain discrete screen points along the line and maps those screen positions onto ground positions called "waypoints". These are sent to the vehicle's guidance system to direct the vehicle along a path through the waypoints. The transform which maps the screen path onto the ground path depends on the camera orientation and lens. The transform parameters can be adjusted as the camera zooms, pans and tilts. Each time the screen is refreshed, the path line for that screen is calculated by the computer from the ground path, to present the ground path correctly in the new screen. The operator can extend or modify the path at will. The system is especially adapted to use in cases where a narrow bandwidth of the radio link between the camera and the station limits the screen refresh rate. The system maximizes the possible speed of the vehicle by presenting the path information in a format quickly grasped by the operator.
A remote television viewing system employing an eye tracker is disclosed, wherein a small region of the image appears in high resolution, and the remainder of the image appears in low resolution. The eye tracker monitors the position of the viewer's line of sight. The eye tracker position data is transmitted to the remote television camera and control. Both the remote camera and television display are adapted to have selectable high-resolution and low-resolution raster scan modes. The position data from the eye tracker is used to determine the point at which the high-resolution scan is to commence. The video data defining the observed image is encoded in a novel format, wherein in each data field, the data representing the position of the high-resolution region of predetermined size appears first, followed by the high-resolution zone video data and then the low-resolution region data. As the viewer's line of sight relative to the displayed image changes, the position of the high-resolution region changes to track the viewer's line of sight.
A foveated electronic camera employing a spatial-frequency spectrum analyzer and data-reduction means utilizing movable spatial windows for converting a high-resolution, wide field-of-view image into a group of subspectrum band images ranging in resolution and field of view from a lowest-resolution image of the entire field of view to a highest-resolution image of a selectably positionable smallest spatial subregion of the entire field of view. Such a camera is useful in a surveillance camera system and in a robotic system, by way of examples.
The invention relates to a picture transmission system of a guided missile which is connected with a ground facility by way of an optical wave guide. This system is arranged that, without any increase of the transmission band width of the optical wave guide, two TV pictures are transmitted to the ground guiding facility, in which case, in addition to the moving picture for the navigation of the guided missile, enlarged stationary pictures for a target identification may also be retrieved, without interfering with the picture-supported navigation. An embodiment is disclosed which includes a camera with a single fixed lens body containing a centrally disposed wide angle lens for sensing navigation aiding images and a surrounding longer focal distance lens for sensing target identification aiding images.
The disclosed invention is a generic Drone Control System or alternatively method to remotely pilot an air vehicle. The present invention essentially comprises a converted aircraft or other air vehicle and a ground station from where the drone is remotely controlled. Also disclosed as part of the Drone Control System are a plurality of means to transfer information and data between the ground station and the drone.
