Automated UAV Launch Platform for Low-Overload Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for landing and recovering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with fixed wings face challenges in efficiently reducing speed to zero, often resulting in overload and potential damage to the device or the aircraft, requiring substantial manual operation and lacking automation in the launch and recovery processes.
Innovation Solution
An automated launch and recovery platform (LRP) that includes a stationary foundation, a rotatable foundation, and a rotatable leverage driven by a motor, equipped with a traffic control subsystem, launch and recovery subsystem, and diagnostics subsystem, which automatically prepares, launches, and recovers UAVs, utilizing a gyrostabilization system and weather station to optimize wind direction and speed for safe operations, and performs automatic diagnostics for maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a small-scale device is used to catch and stop the aerial vehicle, then the device size is reduced, but overload occurs causing damage or destruction of the aerial vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The catching mechanism is divided into multiple elastic elements (springs) arranged in parallel. Each spring independently absorbs a portion of the kinetic energy, distributing the load across multiple components rather than concentrating it on a single small-scale device, thereby preventing overload while maintaining compact size.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses elastic springs that dynamically deform during the catching process. The springs compress progressively as the aerial vehicle is stopped, converting kinetic energy into elastic potential energy. This dynamic response allows the device to adapt to the impact force without rigid failure, preventing damage to the aerial vehicle.
2Device complexity
If manual operation is used for launch and recovery, then the system is simpler, but substantial manual intervention is required reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates automatic control mechanisms that enable the launch and recovery operations to execute without continuous manual intervention. The control system autonomously coordinates the launching mechanism, catching device, and payload release based on pre-programmed sequences, allowing the system to service itself during operational cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform is designed as a multi-functional system that can perform multiple operations (launching, catching, payload release, repositioning) through integrated mechanisms. This universal design allows a single automated system to handle various tasks that would otherwise require separate manual operations, improving overall efficiency while maintaining reasonable system complexity.
3Device complexity
If the aerial vehicle is caught by a small device, then the device remains compact, but the useful life of the device decreases due to overload
Solution Approach 1:
The catching mechanism uses multiple springs arranged in parallel, where each spring bears a fraction of the total impact load. This segmentation prevents any single component from experiencing excessive stress that would lead to premature failure, thereby extending the overall useful life of the compact device.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic springs are pre-configured to provide cushioning effect during the catching operation. By designing the spring constants and pre-compression levels appropriately, the system prepares the cushioning capacity in advance to absorb impact energy within safe stress limits, protecting the compact device structure from overload damage and extending its service life.
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
The automated system enables fully autonomous cyclic tasks of launch, recovery, and preparation, reducing manual intervention, ensuring safe and efficient UAV operations by managing kinetic energy dissipation and wind conditions, thereby extending the lifespan of the system and reducing the risk of damage.
Implementation Method 1
The unmovable foundation is supplemented with a gyrostabilization system to compensate for rolling of a ship
Implementation Method 2
a rotatable leverage that rotates around the Z axis at a shaft driven by a motor
Implementation Method 3
ensures the capture of the first leverage by the LRP and dissipation of kinetic energy of a captured UAV during recovery
Data Source
AI summary
A network of automated launch and recovery platforms (LRPs) for at least one aircraft-type aerial vehicle (UAV) which automatically perform cyclic tasks of preparation, launch, and recovery without manual operation. Each LRP includes a stationary foundation in an X-Z plane, a rotatable foundation that can rotate around a Y axis of the stationary foundation, and a rotatable leverage that rotates around the Z axis at a shaft driven by a motor. A first leverage of the UAV is hooked to the rotatable leverage of the LRP such that rotation of the shaft by the motor drives the rotatable leverage and the UAV for take-off and reduces UAV to stop during recovery. The network includes a traffic control subsystem and a launch and recovery subsystem which provides initial UAV speed necessary for launch, and ensures dissipation of kinetic energy of a captured UAV during recovery.