312results about "Landing aids" patented technology

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for monitoring activities in an aviation environment. The system includes at least two monitoring units, each including at least two types of sensors, wherein: the sensors are mounted at a plurality of locations in the aviation environment. The system further includes a processing system being configured to receive said information from the sensors, to process said information to monitor and make predictions, and to combine sensor information by applying data fusion. The system is further configured to compare sensor information with predetermined safety operation criteria, and to generate an alert signal. The method of the invention includes obtaining sensor information, receiving said information from the sensors at a processing system, processing said information, comparing the processed information with predetermined safety operation criteria, and generating an alert signal.

A display system of an aircraft includes a display device defining a display area, a vision system for generating an image of an operating environment of the aircraft on the display area, data processors operatively coupled to the display device and the vision system, and non-transitory machine-readable memory operatively coupled to the one or more data processors and storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to cause the one or more processors to, when a condition of the aircraft is met, cause an alteration of a display of flight information on the display area to declutter a cutout region in the image generated by the vision system, the cutout region devoid of imaging generated by the vision system and displaying an Approach Lighting System (ALS) of a runway of intended landing for the aircraft.

Exemplary disclosed embodiments include systems, methods, and devices for a ground maneuvering system for aircraft. The systems, methods, and devices may include a ground maneuvering system including at least one processor in communication with at least one sensor and at least one maneuvering vehicle. The at least one maneuvering vehicle includes one or more processors in communication with one or more sensors. The one or more processors can be configured to sense, using the one or more sensors, an area associated with a plurality of areas, to determine a location within area, or to maneuver the maneuvering vehicle to the location. The maneuvering vehicle may also include a movement system for maneuvering the maneuvering vehicle in or around the plurality of areas, and a platform configured for an aircraft.

Described herein are systems for automated docking of an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some systems include a landing surface configured to hold an unmanned aerial vehicle; a box configured to enclose the landing surface in a first arrangement of the dock and expose the landing surface in a second arrangement of the dock; and a retractable arm, wherein the landing surface is positioned at an end of the retractable arm and the retractable arm is configured to extend to move the landing surface outside of the box and contract to pull the landing surface inside of the box.

Systems and methods of providing guidance to assist eVTOL aerial vehicles in performing landing and takeoff operations at landing locations in GPS-denied environments are disclosed. An exemplary system includes an aerial vehicle comprising a camera configured to generate images based on information transmitted by a plurality of light sources located adjacent a landing surface for the aerial vehicle and a controller circuit configured to receive the generated images and determine a position and an orientation of the aerial vehicle based on the received images, wherein the light sources are arranged in a predetermined pattern on the landing surface, and wherein a characteristic of light emitted from each of the light sources is modulated with respect to time.

The invention provides a Fresnel optical image target detection and identification method based on event stream data enhancement, and the method comprises the steps: carrying out the data preprocessing of collected Fresnel optical image event data through employing a denoising algorithm based on time-space continuity, and screening the original event stream data; converting the screened event stream data of the target area into pixel data under an image coordinate system by adopting a dual threshold limiting strategy of event quantity and accumulation time; existing image features are enhanced, and pixel-level fusion, feature-level fusion and decision-level fusion are carried out on event stream data of an event camera and RGB camera data; and the target detection module is used for performing target detection and recognition on the fused data by using a YOLO target detection model. According to the method, the detection of the Fresnel optical image target is realized, so that the detection and recognition capability of the Fresnel optical image target in a complex environment is improved, and the method is particularly suitable for scenes such as seaborne landing guidance and the like.

Described herein are systems for automated docking of an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some systems include a landing surface configured to hold an unmanned aerial vehicle; a box configured to enclose the landing surface in a first arrangement of the dock and expose the landing surface in a second arrangement of the dock; and a retractable arm, wherein the landing surface is positioned at an end of the retractable arm and the retractable arm is configured to extend to move the landing surface outside of the box and contract to pull the landing surface inside of the box.

A take-off and landing site monitoring device is configured to include: an image data acquiring unit that acquires, from an imaging device that images a take-off and landing site, image data indicating a captured image of the take-off and landing site; and an obstruction detecting unit that determines the type of obstruction that hinders take-off and landing of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft using the take-off and landing site on the basis of the image data acquired by the image data acquiring unit.

Described herein are systems for automated docking of an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some systems include a landing surface configured to hold an unmanned aerial vehicle; a box configured to enclose the landing surface in a first arrangement of the dock and expose the landing surface in a second arrangement of the dock; and a retractable arm, wherein the landing surface is positioned at an end of the retractable arm and the retractable arm is configured to extend to move the landing surface outside of the box and contract to pull the landing surface inside of the box.

The utility model provides an unmanned aerial vehicle landing platform and system, and relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, the unmanned aerial vehicle landing platform comprises a platform plate, a light emitting plate, a transparent sticker and a brightness regulator; the transparent sticker is arranged on the face, away from the platform plate, of the light-emitting plate. The light-emitting plate comprises a control line which is connected with the output end of the brightness regulator. A guide code is arranged on the transparent sticker; the brightness regulator is used for outputting a brightness regulation signal to the light-emitting plate. Through the above structure, the brightness of the light-emitting plate can be dynamically adjusted through the brightness adjuster in an environment where the unmanned aerial vehicle camera is difficult to obtain a clear guide code image, such as insufficient light and at night, so that the guide code is kept in an optimal visible state, and the guide code on the platform can be always clearly captured by the unmanned aerial vehicle camera. Therefore, the reliability and accuracy of landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be improved.

An embodiment vertiport includes a main body portion having a lower space, a take-off and landing zone disposed in the lower space and spaced apart from the main body portion by a predetermined gap, a door portion disposed in the gap and configured to open or close the gap, a plurality of elevating portions disposed to surround the take-off and landing zone in the lower space, a ring-shaped portion surrounding the take-off and landing zone and connected to the plurality of elevating portions, wherein the ring-shaped portion is configured to be elevated by the plurality of elevating portions, and a plurality of generators disposed on the ring-shaped portion in a fixed position.

An embodiment vertiport includes a main body portion having a lower space, a take-off and landing zone disposed in the lower space and spaced apart from the main body portion by a predetermined gap, a door portion disposed in the gap and configured to open or close the gap, a plurality of elevating portions disposed to surround the take-off and landing zone in the lower space, a ring-shaped portion surrounding the take-off and landing zone and connected to the plurality of elevating portions, wherein the ring-shaped portion is configured to be elevated by the plurality of elevating portions, and a plurality of generators disposed on the ring-shaped portion in a fixed position.

Ultra-wideband positioning system (100) for determining a position of at least one entity (200) on an airport field comprising at least one of a manoeuvring area (310) and an apron (350), said system comprising: -at least one airport light-signalling device (801), in particular an approach light, a runway light, a taxiway light, an elevated light, an inset light, a light box, or a visual docking guidance system, said device (801) being located on or around the least one of the manoeuvring area (310, 320) and the apron (350); wherein the at least one airport light-signalling device (801) comprises a positioning unit (400) being arranged in or on the at least one airport visual-signalling device (801), said unit (400), - a position determining unit (700) in data communication with the positioning unit (400) of the at least one airport light-signalling device (801), said position determining unit (700) being configured to calculate the position of the at least one entity (200).

The utility model discloses a beacon light maintenance device based on an unmanned aerial vehicle, and relates to the technical field of beacon light maintenance devices, the beacon light maintenance device comprises a beacon light, the beacon light comprises a mounting seat body, a light body and a positioning rod; the lamp body is fixed to the top end of the mounting base. The upper end of the positioning rod is vertically fixed in the bottom center of the mounting base; an inserting hole structure is arranged at the top end of the positioning connecting part, and the lower end of the positioning rod can be movably inserted into the inserting hole structure; the lower part of the positioning connecting part is a mounting end connected with the top of the beacon light tower pile; the unmanned aerial vehicle suspension dismounting and mounting assembly comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle, a throwing device and a connecting assembly; the throwing device is mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle; one end of the connecting component can be magnetically connected with the top end of the lamp body, and the other end can be hung on the throwing device hook body; the unmanned aerial vehicle can suspend and convey the beacon light through the throwing device and the connecting assembly so as to carry out disassembly and assembly operation. The unmanned aerial vehicle can be used for carrying the beacon light for remote conveying and replacement, so that the maintenance and replacement efficiency and safety of the beacon light are improved.

A method comprises capturing, with a vehicle vision sensor, a color image of a landing site including landing surface markers; converting the color image to a gray scale image; and performing multi-scale-binarization to detect multiple edges of the gray scale image and produce binary images. The method determines contours of edges of the binary images having closed shapes, detects closed shapes of contours of edges having four corners, and verifies whether four-sided candidate contours are valid as potential landing surface markers. If more than one contour is associated with a valid ID within a surface marker library, then the contour within the smallest window size is selected. If multiple contours with the same window size can be associated with a valid ID, then a mean of corresponding corners of multiple contours is computed. The method then performs corner refinement of valid four-sided candidate contours identified as potential landing surface markers.

An automated alert system using unmanned aerial vehicles is described where the system is configured to monitor a selected area via one or more sensors configured to monitor the selected area for an anomaly. A processor in communication with the one or more sensors may be programmed to create or alter a flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle upon receiving an alert from the one or more sensors for investigating or verifying the anomaly.

The present application relates to the technical field of drone charging platforms, and discloses a relay charging platform for substation inspection drones, including a platform body, which is arranged on the ground; a helipad, which is arranged on the top of the platform body and is used to charge drones; a power supply system, which includes a driving device, a power transmission device and a power generation device, the power generation device is arranged on the top of the platform body, the driving device is arranged on the platform body, the driving device is located below the power generation device, the driving device is electrically connected to the power supply system, and the power transmission device is connected to the power generation device and the driving device; the power generation device is used to provide power for the helipad, the driving device is used to drive the power generation device to generate power, and the power transmission device is used to transfer the power generated by the driving device to the power generation device. This substation inspection drone relay charging platform solves the problem of damage to the power supply system of the cabin after the cabin is struck by lightning.

To provide a dock platform that enables charging, takeoff, landing and mission planing for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), by unmanned operation.SOLUTION: A dock platform comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle that includes a propulsion mechanism, an image sensor and a processing device, and a dock 100 that includes a landing surface 110 constituted to hold the unmanned aerial vehicle and a fiducial 120 on the landing-on surface 110. The processing device controls the propulsion mechanism so that the unmanned aerial vehicle flies up to a first position in the vicinity of the dock 100, accesses one or more images photographed using the image sensor, detects the fiducial 120 in at least one of the one or more images, determines a posture of the fiducial 120 on the basis of the one or more images, and controls the propulsion mechanism so that the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the landing surface 110, on the basis of the posture of the fiducial 120.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Vision-based vehicle guidance is disclosed. An example landing pad (102) for vision-based guidance of a vehicle (101) includes a first perimeter (134) of a landing area (136) defined by the landing pad, the first perimeter having a first array of first light sources, and a second perimeter (132) having a second array of second light sources, the second perimeter around the first perimeter, at least two of the first or second light sources having a different light characteristic to define a pattern to be detected by an image sensor of the vehicle for guiding the vehicle toward or away from the landing area.

The present invention concerns a system for positioning an airborne vehicle (502) at a geographic location, the system comprising the airborne vehicle (502) having one or more infra-red ( I R) detectors, and a positioning beacon (504) located at the geographic location, the positioning beacon (504) being configured to wirelessly transmit a landing identifier for detection by the airborne vehicle (502) and comprising one or more emitters or reflectors configured to respectively emit or reflect an IR signal, wherein the airborne vehicle (502) is configured to receive the landing identifier and the emitted or reflected IR signal to compare the received landing identifier and a stored unique identifier and if the received landing identifier matches the stored unique identifier to use the emitted or reflected signal to control movement of the airborne vehicle (502) with respect to the positioning beacon.

Systems and methods for communicating aircraft sensory cues are provided. A method can include obtaining aerial vehicle data and facility data for an aerial portion of a multi-modal transportation service. The method can include determining a plurality of sensory cues indicative of information for the aerial portion of the transportation service such as a safe path across a landing pad of the facility, a seating assignment for a passenger, etc. The method can include communicating sensory data indicative of the plurality of sensory cues to at least one of a facility computing system associated with the facility or an aerial computing system associated with the at least one aerial vehicle. The facility computing system and / or aerial computing system can output the sensory cue(s) to at least one passenger or operator of the aerial portion of the multi-modal transportation service in, for example, the facility's landing area.

Systems and methods of providing guidance to assist eVTOL aerial vehicles in performing landing and takeoff operations at landing locations in GPS-denied environments are disclosed. An exemplary system includes an aerial vehicle comprising a camera configured to generate images based on information transmitted by a plurality of light sources located adjacent a landing surface for the aerial vehicle and a controller circuit configured to receive the generated images and determine a position and an orientation of the aerial vehicle based on the received images, wherein the light sources are arranged in a predetermined pattern on the landing surface, and wherein a characteristic of light emitted from each of the light sources is modulated with respect to time.

The invention introduces a tethered unmanned aerial vehicle follow-up and precise landing target system, which comprises a multi-level visual target, and the visual target sequentially comprises a central positioning area, a target positioning area and a target positioning area from the center to the periphery, and the central positioning area is formed by arranging four aruco marks of a first size in a 2 * 2 array mode; the middle transition area is formed by arranging eight aruco marks of the first size in the upper direction, the lower direction, the left direction and the right direction of the center positioning area; four aruco marks of a second size are respectively arranged at the left upper part, the right upper part, the left lower part and the right lower part of the central positioning area; the peripheral auxiliary area is formed by arranging four aruco marks of a third size at four corners of the whole visual target respectively; the maximum peripheral frame is an aruco mark of a fourth size, and the outer frame of the aruco mark of the fourth size forms the outermost layer area of the whole target. According to the invention, continuous and stable visual features can be provided for the mooring unmanned aerial vehicle at different flight heights and attitudes, and the landing reliability is improved.

A system for coordinating aircraft servicing tasks of a plurality of ground support equipment at an airport includes a plurality of beacons and one or more processing circuits. The plurality of beacons are configured to couple to the plurality of ground support equipment. The one or more processing circuits include one or more processors storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processing circuits to acquire signals from the plurality of beacons and coordinate movement of the plurality of ground support equipment based on the signals and in accordance with an aircraft servicing plan.

Described herein are systems for automated docking of an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some systems include an unmanned aerial vehicle including a propulsion mechanism, a battery, and a processing apparatus; and a dock including a landing surface with a funnel geometry shaped to fit a bottom surface of the unmanned aerial vehicle at a base of the funnel, wherein tapered sides of the funnel form corners at the base of the funnel, and a battery charger configured to charge the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle while the unmanned aerial vehicle is on the landing surface, wherein conducting contacts of the battery charger are on the landing surface, positioned at the bottom of the funnel.

A stage has a takeoff and landing surface. The takeoff and landing surface has an opening through which loading and unloading to and from a flying object is carried out. The takeoff and landing surface has a plurality of markers formed thereon. Each marker is a figure or the like for identifying a relative position between the flying object and the stage. The opening is formed in the takeoff and landing surface such that an edge of the opening does not cross the markers.

To provide a collimator capable of visually recognizing a front sight from a rear sight in a horizontal direction even when a light irradiation direction of a lamp is inclined upwardly.SOLUTION: A collimator 1 of the present disclosure comprises a rear sight 1a and a front sight 1b. The rear sight 1a and the front sight 1b are located on a single reference straight line. The reference straight line is inclined relative to a horizontal direction so that the front sight 1b is located below the rear sight 1a. When attempting to view the front sight 1b horizontally from the rear sight 1a, the front sight 1b is at a height that allows it to be visually recognized.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

A flight management system includes a communications system configured to receive weather data from a remote source, a display system configured to generate an output for a flight display of an aircraft, and at least one processor with a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code. The output includes weather information based on the received weather data. The processor-executable code causes the processor to receive a user input from a user interface element of the aircraft where the user input requests updated weather information. The processor-executable code causes the processor to retrieve, via the communications system and in response to the user input, updated weather data from the remote source; calculate a departure or arrival performance flight parameter based at least in part on the updated weather data; and provide, via the display system, an output for the flight display of the aircraft where the output includes the flight parameter.

The invention discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle airport. An available area for the multiple unmanned aerial vehicles to take off and land is determined according to obstacles, the available area comprises a user activity area and a beacon area which are arranged at intervals, and the multiple unmanned aerial vehicle take-off and landing positions arranged in the beacon area are used for achieving continuous take-off and landing of the unmanned aerial vehicles. Take-off and landing of continuous flight missions allocated to the unmanned aerial vehicle are borne by the same take-off and landing position, the time consumed for carrying the unmanned aerial vehicle due to the fixed beacon function is shortened, and the efficiency of the unmanned aerial vehicle for executing the flight missions is improved.

The disclosure relates to a method for guiding landing of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method for guiding landing of unmanned aerial vehicle includes: determining location information of the unmanned aerial vehicle over a target airdrome by using a plurality of position detectors in an airdrome auxiliary positioning system; generating correction guidance information according to an offset vector between the location information and target location information, where the target location information is information representing any location within signal coverage of a guidance beacon of the target airdrome; and sending the correction guidance information to the unmanned aerial vehicle, where the correction guidance information is used to guide the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly into the signal coverage of the guidance beacon.