TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

BACKGROUND

Large-scale industrial companies, especially in utilities, oil, and gas, may own hundreds of miles of asset (e.g., powerline, pipeline) infrastructure that needs to be inspected periodically to ensure high productivity. Recently, some entities have begun utilizing small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to perform these periodic inspections due to the UAVs' ability to quickly collect high-quality data. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations require that a UAV operator or pilot maintain a line-of-sight (LOS) with the UAV at all times.

SUMMARY

In general, this disclosure relates to systems and techniques for determining and indicating a position of at least one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with respect to the UAV's pilot, in order to assist the pilot to maintain line-of-sight (LOS) with the UAV. As described herein, an augmented-reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD), worn by the UAV pilot, is configured to display an indication of the location of a UAV with respect to the HMD's field-of-view (FOV).

In one example, this disclosure describes a device comprising an AR HMD and processing circuitry configured to determine a location of a UAV; determine an orientation of the AR HMD; and present, on the AR HMD, an indication of the location of the UAV based on the orientation of the AR HMD.

In another example, this disclosure describes a method comprising determining a location of a UAV; determining an orientation of the AR HMD; and presenting, on the AR HMD, an indication of the location of the UAV based on the orientation of the AR HMD.

The details of one or more examples of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.

