Would possibly Apple make its personal drone? A brand new patent (quantity US 11929802 B2) for “Unmanned Aerial Automobile Communication” hints at it — and it’s certainly one of a number of such patents.
In regards to the patent
Within the patent Apple says that urrent distant management (RC) unmanned aerial automobiles (UAVs) are managed with a point-to-point radio hyperlink in line-of-sight vary. This reduces, in lots of examples, the fly space to inside about just a few hundred meters of the controller. This limits the use instances of RC UAVs because the operation vary is restricted.
With a view to develop the use, a non-line-of-sight management mechanism can assist. Nevertheless, Apple says that omni-directional antennas presently current on UAVs don’t work effectively within the sky because the UAVs are topic to indicators from a number of base-stations inflicting sturdy interference. Apple says {that a} UAV with a configurable antenna array may very well be an answer.
Abstract of the patent
Right here’s Apple’s summary of the patent: “An unmanned aerial car might be configured to regulate a beam path, present path data, act as a base station, act as a cluster head, embody an improved directional antenna or array of directional antennas, talk in a collaboration utilizing perception propagation, obtain communications from a serving station aiding in navigation or improved sign efficiency, or the like.”