1162 results about "Flight time" patented technology

The invention provides a hovering aerial vehicle with removable rotor arms and protective shrouds. Removing the shrouds reduces the weight of the vehicle and increases flight time. Removing the rotor arms makes the vehicle easier to transport. Removable rotor arms also simplify field repair or replacement of damaged parts.

An apparatus and method of charging and housing of an unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is disclosed. The apparatus includes an accommodator to accommodate an aircraft, a landing platform on which the aircraft lands, a housing portion to monitor state data by housing or charging the aircraft, and a sensor to assist in landing of the aircraft by allowing the aircraft to communicate with the apparatus. The apparatus enhances operational efficiency by reducing a travel time of the aircraft.

Time-of-flight (TOF) three-dimensional sensing systems are deployed on or in a motor vehicle to image contact zones associated with potential contact between an avoidable object and the vehicle or vehicle frame and / or remotely controllable motorized moving door or liftgate. An algorithm processes depth data acquired by each TOF system to determine whether an avoidable object is in the associated contact zone. If present, a control signal issues to halt or reverse the mechanism moving the door. A stored database preferably includes a depth image of the contact zone absent any object, an image of the door, and volume of the door. Database images are compared to newly acquired depth images to identify pixel sensors whose depth values are statistically unlikely to represent background or the door. Pixels within the contact zone so identified are an object, and the control signal is issued.

The invention provides a hovering aerial vehicle with removable rotor arms and protective shrouds. Removing the shrouds reduces the weight of the vehicle and increases flight time. Removing the rotor arms makes the vehicle easier to transport. Removable rotor arms also simplify field repair or replacement of damaged parts.

A method for training a computing system using keyboard biometric information. The method includes depressing two or more keys on a keyboard input device for a first sequence of keys. The method then determines a key press time for each of the two or more keys to provide a key press time characteristic in the first sequence of keys. The method also determines a flight time between a first key and a second key to provide a flight time characteristic in the first sequence of keys, the first key being within the two or more keys. The method includes storing the key press time characteristic and the flight time characteristic for the first sequence of keys, and displaying indications associated with the first sequence of keys on a display device provided on a portion of the keyboard input device.

A system is provided for managing the inbound flow of aircraft to an airfield by ensuring that aircraft are sequenced before departure into an arrival stream. Sequencing uses operational data obtained from airlines and then provides a methodology for sharing this data with the air traffic control (ATC) agency. The outcome is a daily arrival schedule providing a predetermined operational arrival time for each aircraft movement. The operational data used by the system relates to airline punctuality, taxi times at departure airfields and actual flight times predicted on a flight-by-flight basis by airline flight planning systems. This information is combined to effect a predictive arrival time at a desired navigational fix.

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.

Apparatus and methods are described for detecting sharing of electronic or online accounts based on grouping of data samples that include keyboard input timing factors and optionally secondary factors. The data samples can be received from various computers having various keyboards of a certain type and may be input by more than one user. The data samples are grouped based on distances and ratios of mathematical combinations of distances between input timing of key events such as dwell and flight time, as well as optionally based on at least one secondary factor related to the keyboard input timing factors. Example secondary factors include a time of day of the input; and / or a machine identification, location, and IP address of the computer used to input the sample.

The embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and apparatus for joint optimization of multi-UAV task assignment and path planning. The method comprises: obtaining the location information of a plurality of UAVs and a plurality of target points, the dispersion of groundspeed course angle, and motion parameters of each UAV and wind field; constructing an initial population based on the location information, the dispersion of groundspeed course angle and a preset genetic algorithm; determining the flight status of each UAV and the flight time taken by each UAV to complete a path segment of the corresponding Dubins flight path based on the initial population and the motion parameters, obtaining the total time taken by all the UAVs corresponding to each chromosome to complete the task based on the flight time of the path segment; and subjecting the chromosomes in the initial population to crossover and mutation based on the genetic algorithm and, when a predetermined number of iterations is reached, selecting the optimal Dubins flight path as the joint optimization result. In the embodiments of the present invention, the UAV flight path planning problem is combined with the actual flight environment of the UAV, so that the optimal flight path obtained is superior to the solution in which the UAV speed is constant.

The invention discloses a laser three-dimensional imaging device based on a single-photon detector, belonging to the technical field of photoelectric instruments. A target to be detected is irradiated by the laser pulse emitted by a pulsed laser via a scanning system; the returning photons are received by a receiving / emitting co-axial optical system, i.e., the returning photons are received by a double-gating single-photon detecting module via a spectral filter and a spatial filter and an arriving pulse is outputted, so that the photon flight time of the target measuring point can be measured by combining the laser emission detection and the multi-photon arriving pulse time; and a data processing unit is used for carrying out the coordinate conversion based on the position and attitude data, scanning mirror targeting data, and photon flight time of the three-dimensional imaging device, de-noising and three-dimensional image construction and correction, so as to output the reliable target three-dimensional range image. The invention solves the problems that the existing laser three-dimensional imaging device is incapable of penetrating vegetation and camouflage and being miniaturized when conducting long-distance operations.

An embodiment of the invention is a method of accurately determining the spatial location of an RFID tag in two-dimensions or three-dimensions. The method utilizes a plurality of RFID readers to make a plurality of distance, direction, and or time-of-flight determinations. Such determinations are made by sending a request signal from one of the plurality of RFID readers and listening for a response signal from an RFID tag received at each of the plurality of RFID readers. Correction factors are then determined and the time-of-flight factors adjusted. The adjusted time-of-flight factors are then used to determine more accurately the distances between the RFID tag and each of the plurality of RFID readers. These more accurate distance measurements are then used to determine the spatial location of the RFID tag.

The invention discloses an unmanned aircraft electric quantity early warning method and a device; the method comprises the following steps: using a satellite positioner to obtain inward journey drop point information of the unmanned aircraft; obtaining present position information of the unmanned aircraft, and calculating a horizontal distance and a vertical height difference between the present position of the unmanned aircraft and the inward journey drop point; obtaining battery state information of the unmanned aircraft, and calculating a maximum horizontal distance and a maximum climb or descending height of the unmanned aircraft using residual electric quantity at a preset flight speed; determining whether the electric quantity of the unmanned aircraft has reached a lowest critical point of safety inward journey or not according to the horizontal distance and the vertical height difference between the present position of the unmanned aircraft and the inward journey drop point, and the maximum horizontal distance and the maximum climb or descending height of the unmanned aircraft using residual electric quantity at the preset flight speed; if yes, controlling the unmanned aircraft to fly back. The unmanned aircraft electric quantity early warning method and the device can maximize a task flight time while ensuring the safety of the unmanned aircraft, thus maximizing the utilization efficiency of the aircraft.

Provided is an airborne multi-antenna SAR chromatography three dimensional imaging system and an imaging method thereof. The invention is directed to the field of electronic signal processing technology and particularly relates to an SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) chromatography three dimensional imaging technology. According to the invention, a multi-antenna system structure is used to realize an SAR chromatography three dimensional imaging characterized by low flight risk, high resolution and large range. A multi-antenna working mode of single reception and multiple transmissions is adopted to reduce a loader load; meanwhile the possible imaging height scope is enlarged twice. An imaging method based on signal sparse expression is employed to realize a single flight super-resolution three dimensional imaging of the multi-antenna system. After the multi-antenna system structure is adopted, it requires less flight times to realized the three dimensional imaging. Meanwhile, the design of each flight locus is more flexible. Spaces are expanded for the application of SAR three dimensional imaging technologies in the airborne platform.

The invention discloses a self-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle-based air emergency communication system. The system comprises a self-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, a ground control station, a data link and an aerial mobile base station task load, wherein the aerial mobile base station task load is arranged on the self-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle; after the ground control station controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly over airspace of a disaster area according to a set air route through a wireless uplink, the ground control station controls an aircraft to spiral over the set position in a small range; a mobile base station starts to work and transmits mobile communication data to the ground control station through a data channel of the wireless downlink; and therefore, aerial mobile base signals land and are accessed into a public network in a wired way to finish the mobile communication. The system has long endurance flight time and high load capacity, can arrive at the airspace of a disaster site rapidly and conveniently, and provides guarantee for the emergency communication of disaster situations such as earthquake.

Time-of-flight (TOF) three-dimensional sensing systems are deployed on or in a motor vehicle to image contact zones associated with potential contact between an avoidable object and the vehicle or vehicle frame and / or remotely controllable motorized moving door or liftgate. An algorithm processes depth data acquired by each TOF system to determine whether an avoidable object is in the associated contact zone. If present, a control signal issues to halt or reverse the mechanism moving the door. A stored database preferably includes a depth image of the contact zone absent any object, an image of the door, and volume of the door. Database images are compared to newly acquired depth images to identify pixel sensors whose depth values are statistically unlikely to represent background or the door. Pixels within the contact zone so identified are an object, and the control signal is issued.

The invention relates to an assembly digital field based on a flexible array pressure sensor and a method for training gait. Parameters of an athlete including action time sequence, action frequency, position calibration, stress center point, stress time and flight time can be acquired through acquiring information including pressure of foot soles of the athlete contacted with the flexible array pressure sensor unit in the assembly digital field. The digital field and the method have the advantages that the requirement of real time can be met in longer distance; the module of the assembly digital field can be disassembled and assembled arbitrarily, and can extract gait characteristics on multiple sports training events; and the athlete can correctly recognize the training effect of the athlete self through a sports effect evaluation system and an expert system, and adjust the training plan in real time. The digital field and the method can also be applied in the field of mode recognition.

The invention provides a multi-target route planning and united searching method of a drone in an urban low-altitude environment, and belongs to the technical field of drone route planning. The method comprises steps of firstly, based on a static-state known obstacle, constructing a static-state safe index map, and based on an obstacle which is actively detected by the drone in a flight process and is not marked in a geographical map, constructing a dynamic state safe index map on an airborne platform; and then, based on offline searching and online searching, solving and optimizing a multi-target route planning problem of flight time and flight safety of the drone in an united manner. According to the invention, a path costing little from a start point to a termination point is planned in an offline manner; when an unknown obstacle is detected, a changed flight track is planned in an online manner through online searching, so a dynamic obstacle is avoided; and there is a quite small searching space in the online searching, so a safe route can be planned again from the drone rapidly, so requirements on real-time planning of routes for drones are met.

Turnkey maintenance of a customer's aircraft fleet is managed by a single management service provider (MSP) controlling integrated maintenance and materials services from a central operations site. The MSP converts data received directly from on-board aircraft systems into information it uses to manage maintenance service providers and parts suppliers. The MSP contracts with and manages maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROs) who perform the maintenance on the customers' aircraft at line and base stations. The MSP either remotely manages part inventories at the customer's site, or manages suppliers who deliver the parts to the MROs. Maintenance planning, scheduling and execution information is exchanged between the MSP, MROs, part suppliers and the customers through a shared data communication network controlled by the MSP. The MSP charges the customer for the maintenance services based on a flat rate per unit of aircraft flying time.

The invention discloses a small low-altitude light area array laser radar measuring system. The master control sub-system of the measuring system triggers a pulse laser emitting module to emit lasers, the lasers are collimated and generate two paths of laser signals through a beam splitting sheet, one path is used for determining the time of emitting the lasers and generating timing starting signals, the other path irradiates an object through beam expansion, echo signals are received by an APD array detection module and generate N2 paths of stopping pulses, and a multi-channel high-precision time interval measuring module is combined with starting signals to measure the round-trip flight time difference of N2 paths of lasers of a rectangular detection area. The location attitude measuring sub-system, the master control sub-system and the area array laser radar distance-measuring sub-system of the measuring system are integrated, original three-dimensional information can be obtained in real time, and assembling and verification are eliminated. The laser radar measuring system does not need scanning, three-dimensional imaging can be achieved through a single pulse, the imaging speed is high, measuring precision and working efficiency are high, the size is small, the weight is small, and the small low-altitude light area array laser radar measuring system is suitable for being carried small low-altitude light remote sensing platforms.

The invention relates to a multi-objective optimization method for collaborative allocation of time slots of multi-runway approaching-departing flights, belonging to the technical field of civil aviation. The multi-objective optimization method is mainly based on a collaborative decision-making idea and comprises the following steps of: firstly, dividing a time interval into a plurality of time slots, determining the approaching-departing capacity of an airport and dynamically creating time slots; secondly, establishing a multi-objective optimization model with minimum total delay cost, fair delay loss of each aviation company and balanced use frequency of each runway as objectives and with the effectiveness and the approaching-departing capacity of the airport as constraining conditions; and finally, solving by using a genetic algorithm to obtain an optimal flight time slot allocation scheme. The multi-objective optimization method disclosed by the invention is suitable for solving the time slot allocation problem of the approaching-departing flights of each airport.

An unspecified-time airline ticket representing a purchased seat on a flight to be selected later, by the airlines, for a traveler-specified itinerary (e.g., NY to LA on March 3rd) is disclosed. Various methods and systems for matching an unspecified-time ticket with a flight are also disclosed. An exemplary method includes: (1) making available an unspecified-time ticket; (2) examining a plurality of flights which would fulfill the terms of the unspecified-time ticket to determine which flight to select; and (3) providing notification of the selected flight prior to departure. The disclosed embodiments provide travelers with reduced airfare in return for flight-time flexibility and, in turn, permits airlines to fill seats that would have otherwise gone unbooked. Because of the flexibilities required of the unspecified-time traveler, unspecified-time tickets are likely to attract leisure travelers unwilling to purchase tickets at the available published fares and, at the same time, are likely to “fence out” business travelers unwilling to risk losing a full day at either end of their trip. Moreover, the flexibilities required of the unspecified-time traveler need not be limited to a departure time; the flexibilities may also include the airline, the departing airport, the destination airport, or any other restriction that increases the flexibility afforded the airline in placing the traveler aboard a flight. The disclosed embodiments thus permit airlines to fill otherwise empty seats in a manner that stimulates latent and unfulfilled leisure travel demand while leaving their underlying fare structures intact.

Processing passengers for departure from an airport comprises a first line for passengers to be processed through a control point on the basis of first-in first-out. There is a second line for passengers to be processed on a non first-in first-out basis. The availability for the second line is determined by at least one of the following characteristics, namely the status of the passenger relative to an airline class of service; delays in flight times of one or more flights using the airport; cancellations of other flights using the airport; security factors at the airport; staffing at the airport; calendar date of flight, time of day of flight; number of passengers for the flight; numbers of passengers for other flights; and baggage handling. The system also processes passengers for arrival at an airport. The system also processes passengers for arrival at an airport so as facilitate baggage handling.

The invention relates to a device for assisting in the choice of a diversion airport for an aircraft piloted by a crew (200), said aircraft comprising a flight management system including location means (207) calculating the position of the aircraft, said device comprising a navigation database (202) and a performance database (203) of the aircraft, said device being characterized in that it comprises:a company database (201) comprising airports and characteristics of said airports,means (205) of calculating a list of airports, called candidate airports, from the airports in the company database, from the navigation database and from the selected characteristics by the crew,means (204) for calculating remaining flight time and fuel consumption predictions for each of the candidate airports from the position of the aircraft, from weather conditions and from the performance database,an interface giving the favoured airports for diversion according to pre-established criteria or determined in real time using the interface.

The invention discloses a flight control method for an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method includes the first step of collecting coordinate information transmitted by a platform for landing and taking-off of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the second step of targeting the landing platform according to the collected coordinate information, the third step of controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly to the place near the targeted platform and then collecting image information of guiding marks, used for guiding the unmanned aerial vehicle to land at the position and orientation on the platform, of the platform, and the fourth step of controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to land onto a supporting device prearranged on the platform according to the guiding marks and distance information detected by a prearranged distance sensor. The invention further discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle control device. Through the flight control method and device for the unmanned aerial vehicle, the control accuracy of the unmanned aerial vehicle is improved, the weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle is reduced, and the flight time is prolonged.

The invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle cruising and monitoring system for forest fire. The weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle is reduced, flight time is prolonged, an unmanned aerial vehicle cruising range is enlarged, route planning is carried out for fire monitoring, and an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system is combined with a geographic information system. The route planning not only guarantees monitoring quality and monitoring full coverage but also considers the hardware parameters and the flight safety of the cruising unmanned aerial vehicle, a rotary head carries a thermal infrared imager and a colorful high-definition camera, the thermal infrared characteristics of the image of the forest fire are fully utilized, and an automatic monitoring and identification method for forest fire information is designed. Even if the forest fire monitoring distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle is long, fire characteristics can be accurately captured. A colorful high-definition image is compressed and transmitted back to a ground command post, a high-definition fire video image can be quickly transmitted to the ground, a fire position can be accurately reported, so that convenience is brought to the ground command post in accurately judging a fire situation and organizing people to fight the fire, and precious fire-fighting time is saved.

A method and system corrects motion blur in time-of-flight (TOF) image data in which acquired consecutive images may evidence relative motion between the TOF system and the imaged object or scene. Motion is deemed global if associated with movement of the TOF sensor system, and motion is deemed local if associated with movement in the target or scene being imaged. Acquired images are subjected to global and then to local normalization, after which coarse motion detection is applied. Correction is made to any detected global motion, and then to any detected local motion. Corrective compensation results in distance measurements that are substantially free of error due to motion-blur.

The present invention discloses an information sharing mechanism-based arrival and departure flight collaborative sequencing method. The method includes the following steps that: by means of flight plans, arrival and departure flights are divided into current terminal arrival flights, current continuous flights and current starting departure flights; an information sharing mechanism is established for the current continuous flights; on the basis of airport surface coordination and runway coordination, an arrival and departure flight collaborative sequencing model is built with an objective function adopted; and a simulated annealing mechanism is adopted to introduce an arrival and departure flight collaboration priority strategy into a neighborhood search link, and a Pareto domination acceptance criterion-based multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to realize arrival and departure flight collaborative sequencing. According to the method of the invention, the optimization of the configuration of arrival and departure flight time slot resources is realized through arrival and departure flight information sharing; and by means of the flight priority strategy, preorder flights can load first, and the influence of the preorder flights on subsequent flights can be decreased.

A method of harvesting and managing energy from air currents, by small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) having a plurality of powered and unpowered rotors, to increase the aircraft's flight time, especially where the mission requires extensive hovering and loitering, is provided. Conventional powered rotors create lift for the aircraft. Unpowered rotors can either be: 1) Free-wheeling rotors which increase the plan form area of aircraft as they rotate, increasing lift, and reducing the power draw on the battery, and / or 2) Rotors connected to micro-generators, which serve as a brake on the unpowered rotors, create electrical power to charge the aircraft batteries or directly power the aircraft's electronics. The invention's folding rotor arm design results in a compact package that is easily transported by a single user (man portable). The aircraft can be removed from its protective tube, unfolded and launched for flight in less than a minute. Extended flight times, compact easily transported design, and ability to host flight software on a user's tablet / PC result in low total cost of ownership.

The invention relates to a method for implementing flight time slot allocation. The method is realized through the assistance of a computer management system, and the system also comprises a flow management program generating / evaluating subsystem which is used as an operation platform for the method for implementing the flight time slot allocation. Based on statistics and prediction of flow and capacity, the method discovers the arisen or possibly arisen flow problems in time, assists flow managers to propose various proposals for solving the flow problems and corresponding implement effects, assists the flow managers to make a final decision, allocates take-off time slots meeting integrally optimal, impartial and just principles for flights needing ground delay through take-off time slot allocation algorithm in particular in a ground delay program, and has innovation, practicability and higher promotional value in improving the current situation of the domestic air traffic flow technology field.