Abstract:
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system including: a rearward facing tang 216 extending from a rear fuselage portion 218 of a VTOL UAV 102, one or more metallic contacts 224 disposed on an exterior surface of the tang 216, a UAV pod 108 including a landing surface 104; and an opening 105 disposed in the landing surface 104 to receive the tang 216.
Abstract:
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) storage and launch system, including: a UAV pod 600 having an interior 700; and a telescoping UAV landing surface 702 disposed in the interior 700 of the UAV pod 600; where the telescoping UAV landing surface 702 may translate up toward a top opening 704 of the UAV pod 600, translate down into an interior 700 of the UAV pod 600, or rotate relative to the UAV pod 600.
Abstract:
A system for facilitating automated landing and takeoff of an autonomous or pilot controlled hovering air vehicle with a cooperative underbody at a stationary or mobile landing place and an automated storage system used in conjunction with the landing and takeoff mechanism that stores and services a plurality of UAVs is described. The system is primarily characterized in that the landing mechanism is settable with 6 axes in roll, pitch, yaw, and x, y and z and becomes aligned with and intercepts the air vehicle in flight and decelerates the vehicle with respect to vehicle's inertial limits. The air vehicle and capture mechanism are provided with a transmitter and receiver to coordinate vehicle priority and distance and angles between landing mechanism and air vehicle. The landing and takeoff system has means of tracking the position and orientation of the UAV in real time. The landing mechanism will be substantially aligned to the base of the air vehicle. With small UAVs, their lifting capacity is limited. Reducing sensing and computation requirements by having the landing plate perform the precision adjustments for the landing operation allows for increased flight time and/or payload capacity.
Abstract:
A container 14 is used to launch a small aircraft 20, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), from a host aircraft 100. The container protects the UAV from stresses during the initial ejection from a launcher 30 that is part of the host aircraft. The initial stresses may be due to turbulence in the vicinity of the host aircraft, high airspeed, and/or tumbling that may result from the ejection from the host aircraft moving at a high airspeed. The container may deploy a drag device 62, such as a drogue chute, to slow the container down and reorient the container, prior to deployment of the UAV from the container. During the time between ejection from the host aircraft and deployment from the container, the UAV may be powered up and acquire data, such as global positioning system (GPS) data, to allow the UAV a "hot start" enabling immediate mission commencement.
Abstract:
In an aspect, in general, a spooling apparatus (112) includes a filament feeding mechanism for deploying and retracting filament (106) from the spooling apparatus to an aerial vehicle (102), an exit geometry sensor (230) for sensing an exit geometry of the filament from the spooling apparatus, and a controller for controlling the feeding mechanism to feed and retract the filament based on the exit geometry.
Abstract:
An aircraft for unmanned aviation is described. The aircraft includes an airframe, a pair of fins attached to a rear portion of the airframe, a pair of dihedral braces attached to a bottom portion of the airframe, a first thrust-vectoring ("T/V") module and a second T/V module, and an electronics module. The electronics module provides commands to the two T/V modules. The two T/V modules are configured to provide lateral and longitudinal control to the aircraft by directly controlling a thrust vector for each of the pitch, the roll, and the yaw of the aircraft. The use of directly articulated electrical motors as T/V modules enables the aircraft to execute tight-radius turns over a wide range of airspeeds.
Abstract:
Le système (1) comporte un conteneur externe (15) qui est fixé, directement et complètement, dans la soute de l'avion de transport (AC), et dans lequel est agencé un conteneur interne (4) qui peut être déplacé longitudinalement et être amené d'une première position d'emport, dans laquelle il est entièrement situé à l'intérieur dudit conteneur externe (15), à une seconde position (P2) de déchargement, dans laquelle il est décalé longitudinalement vers l'arrière de l'aéronef (AC) de sorte qu'une partie (7) dudit conteneur interne (4) est alors située à l'extérieur de l'avion de transport (AC).
Abstract:
A rotary wing vehicle includes a body structure having an elongated tubular backbone or core and a counter-rotating coaxial rotor system having rotors. The rotor system is used to move the rotary wing vehicle in directional flight.