Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a body that supports breakaway components. One component is a battery pack which powers the vehicle. Two other components are pod assemblies, which each include at least one motor and one propeller. Each motor is supported within a support ring using spokes or filament. The spokes keep the motor firmly stable during operation and also effectively encage the otherwise dangerous spinning propeller. This allows the vehicle to operate with a higher level of safety than conventional UAVs. The breakaway feature can be established using magnets.

Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a fuselage that supports breakaway components that are attached using magnets. One component is a battery pack which powers the vehicle. Another component is a rotor set including two identical pod pairs that each support a motor and a propeller. Each motor is attached to a hub assembly that includes a plurality of spokes captured in a motor hub and sandwiched by a rigid motor printed circuit board on top and a rigid hub plate. The hub assembly construction is rigid in plane and functions to keep the motor firmly stable during operation. The hub assembly is compliant and resilient when impacted parallel to the plane. Other features of the pod pairs encage the otherwise dangerous spinning propeller. This allows the vehicle to operate with a higher level of safety than conventional UAVs.

Abstract: A quadcopter has a fuselage and four rotors, each defining a thrust vector. An onboard camera system includes a gimbal with a roll axis and a pitch axis. Right side motors are mounted with a dihedral angle so that their respective thrust vectors intersect at a common focal point located above the fuselage. Left side motors are mounted with a dihedral angle so that their respective thrust vectors intersect at a common focal point located above the fuselage. The tilted thrust vectors provide yaw stability which allows flight yaw control to be used as yaw control of the onboard camera.

Abstract: A propeller drive assembly includes an electric motor having a stator and a rotor. During operation the motor generates heat. A propeller made from a thermally conductive plastic includes a hub that is secured to the rotor portion of the motor so that the heat generated within the motor is transferred by conductance through the thermally conductive hub and propeller and then, by convection, is absorbed by the surrounding air, as the propeller rotates through the air. A thermally conductive interface material can be positioned between the rotor portion of the motor and the hub of the propeller to increase the thermal efficiency of the heat transfer between the motor and the propeller. A thermally conductive grease can be used as the interface material and an O-ring seal can be provided about the rotor to prevent the grease from escaping during motor operation.

Abstract: A method for synchronizing an audio track that is being recorded at a first location with a video track that is being recorded at a second location, such as on a flying UAV, is disclosed. First, the audio and video recorders being to record sound and video. Then, a GPS receive is used to pick up the very accurate GPS clock signal. A real-time clock is also used locally to generate a real-time value. At a predetermined time, the GPS time data is interrogated and a time-stamp is generated. A video encoder is then used to embed the time-stamp, either during recording, or shortly thereafter. A networked audio recording device records audio with a time stamp acquired from the network. These respective time-stamps are then used in post-processing to accurately synchronize the audio and video tracks.

Abstract: Embodiments discussed herein provide improved control of an unmanned aerial vehicle camera gimbal. In some embodiments, a linear control circuit is described that uses an operational amplifier that allows the system to retain its passive isolation of high frequency disturbances.