UAV Landing Gear Height-Triggered Deployment During Landing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) often fail to timely lower their landing gear during landing, leading to potential crashes and damage due to misoperation or abrupt terrain changes, resulting in economic losses and increased flight costs.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for controlling UAV landing gear that detects the relative-to-ground height and automatically lowers the gear when the height falls below a preset threshold, using sensors like ultrasonic waves, cameras, or radar to adjust the height and ensure safe landing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual control through remote control is used to lower the landing gear, then the user has full control over the operation, but the UAV may not timely release the landing gear causing fuselage to directly touch ground or obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The UAV system performs self-service by automatically detecting its own height relative to ground and autonomously controlling the landing gear deployment without requiring continuous manual input from the operator. The controller monitors height data from sensing elements and independently decides when to lower the landing gear based on predetermined height thresholds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback control by continuously monitoring the UAV's height through sensing elements (ultrasonic, optical, or radar sensors) and using this information to automatically trigger landing gear deployment when the height falls below a predetermined threshold, ensuring timely response to changing flight conditions.
2Reliability
If automatic height detection and landing gear control is implemented, then timely landing gear release is ensured, but the device complexity increases due to additional sensing elements and control mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The controller serves multiple functions: it manages both the height detection system and the landing gear control system, integrating these functions into a single control unit. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated control circuits for each function, thereby managing complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensing element acts as an intermediary between the physical environment (ground distance) and the control system, converting physical height information into electrical signals that the controller can process. This intermediary role simplifies the control architecture by providing a standardized interface between the physical world and the control logic.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution reduces the probability of UAV crashes, minimizes damage, and enhances user operation experience by ensuring the landing gear is released in time, preventing direct collisions with the ground.
Implementation Method 1
using sensors like ultrasonic waves, cameras, or radar to adjust the height
Implementation Method 2
using sensors like ultrasonic waves, cameras, or radar to adjust the height
Data Source
AI summary
A method for controlling a landing gear of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes detecting whether a relative-to-ground height of the UAV is greater than a height threshold, where the relative-to-ground height is a vertical height of the UAV with respect to an object; and in response to the relative-to-ground height being not greater than the height threshold and the UAV having not lowered the landing gear, adjusting the relative-to-ground height to the height threshold or above, and lowering the landing gear.