302results about "Micro-sized aircraft" patented technology

A micro air vehicle (MAV) comprises features that emulate insect-like topology and flight, including a dangling three part body (100a, 100b, 100c), wing-like dual side rotors (107, 107a) positioned to either side on rotor arms (103) providing tilt and teeter motions to vector thrust and allow crawling along improved surfaces, and elevators (101) that approximate the center of gravity and center of pressure control employed by insects via the inertial reaction and aerodynamic influence of a repositionable abdomen. Control, sensing, surveillance, and payload elements (114), (401), (402), (403), (404), (405), and (407) enable transmission of surveillance and engagement of an emerging target. Left and right perch hangers and grapples (112, 112a) allow perching on various structures, and energy storage (504) and (505) combined with power line (500) and solar (502) energy scavenging circuitry allow extended loiter and mission duration by replenishing onboard energy supplies.

A miniature aircraft 1 has a center axle 22, two rotors 3 and 5 provided substantially axially to the center axle 22 and capable of rotating in opposite directions, rotary wings 34 and 54 provided to the rotors 3 and 5, vibrating members 4 for rotating the rotary wings 34 and 54 via the rotors 3 and 5, and cables 471 and 472 connected to the vibrating members 4. A hollow part 221 is formed in the center axle 22 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the cables 471 and 472 are easily positioned in the hollow part 221.

A rotorcraft including a fuselage, one or more motor-driven rotors for vertical flight, and a control system. The motors drive the one or more rotors in either of two directions of rotation to provide for flight in either an upright or an inverted orientation. An orientation sensor is used to control the primary direction of thrust, and operational instructions and gathered information are automatically adapted based on the orientation of the fuselage with respect to gravity. The rotors are configured with blades that invert to conform to the direction of rotation.

A miniature, unmanned aircraft for acquiring and/or transmitting data, capable of automatically maintaining desired airframe stability while operating by remote directional commands. The aircraft comprises a fuselage and a wing, a piston engine and propeller, a fuel supply, at least one data sensor and/or radio transceiver, a microprocessor disposed to manage flight, a radio transceiver for receiving remotely generated flight direction commands, a GPS receiver, a plurality of control surfaces and associated servomechanisms, for controlling flight stabilization and direction, roll, pitch, yaw, velocity, and altitude sensors. The microprocessor uses roll, pitch, yaw, and altitude data to control attitude and altitude of the aircraft automatically, but controls flight direction solely based on external commands. The aircraft does not exceed fifty-five pounds.

A virtual sensor mast for a ground vehicle and a method for operating a ground vehicle using a virtual sensor mast are disclosed. The virtual sensor mast includes an unmanned airborne vehicle capable of lifting itself from the ground vehicle upon deployment therefrom; a sensor suite mounted to the unmanned airborne vehicle; and a tether between the unmanned airborne vehicle and the ground vehicle over which the sensor suite is capable of communicating sensed data upon deployment. The method includes elevating a tethered unmanned airborne vehicle from the ground vehicle to a predetermined height; sensing environmental conditions surrounding the ground vehicle; and terminating the deployment.

A Blended Wing Body SUAV and MUAV is disclosed having a novel airfoil profile, wing configuration, rigging and tractor pull propeller placement that provide improved stability and safety characteristics over prior art SUAVs and MUAVs of comparable size and weight. This unique blended wing design includes wing twist on the outboard wing and an inverted “W” shaped planform to provide lateral and longitudinal stability, and smooth, even flight characteristics throughout the range of the expected flight envelope. These flight characteristics are crucial to providing a stable reconnaissance platform with favorable stall speeds, an increased payload and the ability to hand launch without the danger of exposing ones hands or wrist to a propeller.

A vehicle with wings and a mechanism for causing a flapping motion in wings. Each wing structure comprises a wing and a wing spar coupled to a follower via a resilient member. Each wing carrier is pivotally connected to the body and is configured to restrain lateral movement and permit rotation of the wing spar about a feathering axis. A biasing member provides torsional bias to each wing spar. A linkage, driven by an actuator, transmits cyclic motion that rotates the wing carrier about a flapping axis, which moves the follower along a follower path. A guide attached to the vehicle body lies in the path of each follower, and the follower and guide are shaped such that each wing spar has a first rotational position about its axis along a first portion of the follower path and a second rotational position along a second portion of the follower path.

A deformation structure of an air vehicle. The deformation structure includes: a driving part, a transmission part which is fixedly connected to the driving part, is driven by the driving part, and linearly moves back and forth relative to the driving part, a fixing part which sleeves the transmission part, at least two main rods which are respectively disposed on the two sides of the transmission part, wherein each main rod includes a first bottom part and an opposite first tail part, and the first bottom parts of the at least two main rods are hinged to each other and are limited to one end of the fixing part, wherein the end of the fixing part is in proximity to the driving part, at least two auxiliary rods, wherein each auxiliary rod includes a second bottom part and an opposite second tail part, and the two second bottom parts of the at least two auxiliary rods are hinged to each other and are limited to one end of the fixing part, wherein the end of the fixing part is far away from the driving part, at least two pull rods, wherein one end of each pull rod is connected to the first tail part of one of the main rods and the other end of each pull rod is connected to the second tail part of one of the auxiliary rods, and at least two connecting rods, wherein one end of each connecting rod is hinged to the transmission part and the other end of each connecting rod is hinged to the main rod. The invention also provides a micro air vehicle.

The invention described here offers a more effective method of ornithopter flight control. To accomplish this, the ornithopter has dual microprocessor-controlled drive systems for flapping the wings independently of each other. Various wing movements can cause the ornithopter to turn, roll, or pitch up or down. Weight and complexity are reduced by eliminating the need for servo-controlled tail surfaces.

An apparatus comprising a contactless battery synchronous power and a battery management system (BSP-BMS) is disclosed. This system includes a battery monitoring unit for monitoring the state of the batteries and a synchronous power unit for controlling the intensity and direction of current during both, charging and discharging processes, including one or several opto-inductive discs for the wireless energy transfer and fast and a lightweight communication scheme. The full system disclosed in this invention is very small in size, lightweight, cost effective and reliable due to its scalable structure, easy parallelization of current control elements and paths, and local and reliable opto-inductive coupling. The invention is aimed at universal, fast and automated charge processes and internal stored energy management for unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) but it can be an effective solution for manned electric vehicles like electric bikes, electric motorcycles or other electric powered vehicles.

A flying wing rotation mechanism of a micro air vehicle is driven under a control of a power module and a detent member. The flying wing rotation mechanism of a micro air vehicle includes a flapping arm and a flying wing. The flapping arm is connected to the detent member, and swings as the power module drives the detent member. An end of the flying wing is pivoted to the flapping arm. When the flapping arm swings, the flying wing swings with the flapping arm in sync. When swing direction of the flapping arm changes, the flying wing rotates relative to an axial direction of the flapping arm.

A UAV arresting hook is disclosed. The arresting hook facilitates the capture of a UAV via a UAV recovery system. In the illustrative embodiment, the arresting hook has a rotation block, an arm, and a plurality of latches that are disposed on the arm. The arm is coupled to the UAV via the rotation block, which provides two rotational degrees of freedom to the arm. In a stowed position, the arm is flush against the surface of the UAV. To deploy the arm, a free end of the arm is rotated away from the surface of the UAV. The arm is additionally biased to rotate about its longitudinal axis as it rotates away from the surface of the UAV. This rotation positions the latches to capture an arresting line that is part of a UAV recovery system.

A method of controlling wing position and velocity for a flapping wing air vehicle provides six-degrees-of-freedom movement for the aircraft through a split-cycle constant-period frequency modulation with wing bias method that generates time-varying upstroke and downstroke wing position commands for wing planforms to produce nonharmonic wing flapping trajectories that generate non-zero, cycle averaged wing drag and alter the location of the cycle-averaged center of pressure of the wings relative to the center of gravity of the aircraft to cause horizontal translation forces, rolling moments and pitching moments of the aircraft.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is provided with a plurality of synthetic jet actuators and a nonlinear robust controller. The controller compensates for uncertainty in a mathematic model that describes the function of the synthetic jet actuators. Compensation is provided by the use of constant feedforward best guess estimates that eliminate the need for more highly computationally burdensome approaches such as the use of time-varying adaptive parameter estimation algorithms.

A ground vehicle and a method for articulating a payload module for mobility assist are disclosed. The ground vehicle comprises a chassis; and a payload module capable of articulating relative to the chassis to assist the mobility of the ground vehicle. The method comprises articulating a payload module relative to a chassis.

An improved drone with 4 flat wings reciprocating up and down, complete with motor and electronics. Appendages on each wing's surface allow air to pass across it during the up-motion, and block it in the down-motion; this creates lift and permits flight and manoeuvres. The drone resembles either a flying bird or an insect, depending on wing motion and on passive attachments appropriate for the respective resemblance, making for inconspicuousness. The drone can execute complex work, either as solitary or in a team, either in flight or at rest in various places, after approaching and adhering expertly.

A microscale radio-controlled aerial micro-drone vehicle, having a fixed wing (as opposed to a rotary wing) having a propulsion device the vehicle including wheels for traveling on the ground, which are attached to the side ends of a section of the wing. The rotational axis Y1 of the wheels being located in front of the center of gravity of the micro-drone, the center of gravity of the micro-drone being located in front of the aerodynamic center of the micro-drone. The rotational axis Y1 of the wheels being aligned with the thrust axis of the propulsion device and the wheels are sized such that the radius D/2 thereof is greater than the distance between the rotational axis Y1 of the wheels and the trailing edge of the wing.

A micro aviation vehicle is provided which includes a body, a first wing set, a second wing set, an actuator and a power module. The first wing set and the second wing set are disposed on the left and right sides of the body respectively, and are connected with one end of the actuator. A first angle controller and a second angle controller are used to control the swing angle of the first wing set and the swing angle of the second wing set, respectively. The power module draws the actuator through the rotation of a driving gear, and then the first wing set together with the second wing set are associated with the actuator to flap back-and-forth.