Extensible Stinger Drone Launch and Recovery in Non-Turbulent Air
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for launching and recovering small aircraft from carrier aircraft are inefficient due to turbulence issues, making it difficult to align and reattach in turbulent airflow, and are not suitable for unmanned drones.
Innovation Solution
An airborne drone launch and recovery apparatus featuring an extensible stinger with a catcher shuttle that operates in non-turbulent air ahead of the carrier aircraft, using a stinger assembly with linear drives and cameras for precise drone engagement and retrieval, allowing for safe and efficient launching and recovering of drones from underneath the carrier.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hook type means is used to attach the drone to the carrier aircraft, then the drone can be launched and recovered, but it is extremely difficult to align the hook with the trapeze bar in turbulent airflow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an extensible stinger as an intermediary component between the carrier aircraft and the drone. The stinger extends forward from the carrier into non-turbulent air, providing a stable target (trapeze bar) that is easier to align with than a hook in turbulent conditions. The stinger acts as a mediator that transfers the attachment function from the drone's hook to a more stable structure ahead of the carrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The stinger is extended forward into non-turbulent air before the drone needs to be attached. This preliminary positioning of the trapeze bar in stable airflow conditions allows for easier alignment and attachment of the drone, avoiding the need to align in turbulent conditions.
2Ease of operation
If the drone is launched as far as possible from the carrier outside the turbulent air, then alignment is easier, but the carrier becomes unbalanced outside its safe limit on center of lift movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the contradiction by changing the spatial dimension of the attachment point. Instead of launching the drone horizontally far from the carrier (which affects center of lift), the stinger extends vertically downward and forward, positioning the trapeze bar in non-turbulent air while maintaining the carrier's longitudinal balance within safe limits.
3Measurement precision
If the stinger is extended forward out of turbulent air, then drone engagement is more precise, but the stinger assembly becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The stinger assembly is segmented into multiple independent components: the stinger structure itself, the trapeze bar mechanism, the linear drive system, and the camera system. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall design by breaking down the complex function of precise positioning into manageable subsystems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical alignment mechanisms with a combination of linear drives for extension/retraction and camera systems for visual targeting and alignment. This substitution reduces mechanical complexity while improving precision, as optical alignment is more accurate than purely mechanical systems.
Data Source
AI summary
An airborne drone launch and recovery apparatus for selectively launching drones located on the underside of a carrier aircraft or recovering drones following flight of the drones, the airborne launch and recovery apparatus has an extensible stinger slidable along the length of a stinger sheath between a retracted position proximal the rear portion of the carrier aircraft and an extended position in front of the carrier aircraft, and a catcher shuttle carried on the forward part of the stinger for extending into the non-turbulent air in front of the carrier aircraft when the stinger is in the extended position. The carrier shuttle includes a launch/recovery assembly for selectively either having a locked condition for the recovery guide of a drone prior to the positioning of the catcher shuttle in a selected for the launch of the drone, and having an open condition for receiving the recovery guide of a drone at the termination of the flight of the drone to terminate the flight.