Unmanned aerial vehicle and methods for controlling same

Abstract

One variation of a method for imaging an area of interest includes: within a user interface, receiving a selection for a set of interest points on a digital map of a physical area and receiving a selection for a resolution of a geospatial map; identifying a ground area corresponding to the set of interest points for imaging during a mission; generating a flight path over the ground area for execution by an unmanned aerial vehicle during the mission; setting an altitude for the unmanned aerial vehicle along the flight path based on the selection for the resolution of the geospatial map and an optical system arranged within the unmanned aerial vehicle; setting a geospatial accuracy requirement for the mission based on the selection for the mission type; and assembling a set of images captured by the unmanned aerial vehicle during the mission into the geospatial map.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 at an unmanned aerial vehicle:
 downloading a first flight data from a remote computer system; 
 uploading the first flight data to an autopilot module arranged in the first unmanned aerial vehicle for execution by the unmanned aerial vehicle during a mission; 
 during the mission, collecting environmental data proximal to the first flight data at a first time; 
 during the mission, collecting telemetry data comprising a set of geospatial coordinates of the first unmanned aerial vehicle at the first time; 
 coupling the environmental data to the telemetry data within a first data packet; and 
 transmitting the first data packet to the remote computer system.