With Indication Or Control Of Landing Patents (Class 701/16)
  • Patent number: 12260586
    Abstract: Provided is a data processing unit of a user terminal that sets a real object included in a camera-captured image as a marker, generates marker reference coordinates with a configuration point of the set marker as an origin, and transmits position data on the marker reference coordinates to a mobile device. The data processing unit transforms the destination position of the drone or the position of the tracking target from the coordinate position on the user terminal camera coordinates to the coordinate position on the marker reference coordinates, and transmits the transformed coordinate position to the drone. The data processing unit receives the movement path from the drone as coordinate position data on the marker reference coordinates, transforms the coordinate position data into a coordinate position on the user terminal camera coordinates, and displays the path information on the display unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichiro Abe
  • Patent number: 12253385
    Abstract: A system and method for landing an electric aircraft is provided. The system includes a controller, wherein the controller is communicatively connected to the sensor, wherein the controller is configured to, receive a plurality of measured flight data, determine a descent confirmation as a function of the plurality of measured flight data, generate a descent instruction set as a function of the descent confirmation and the plurality of measured flight data, wherein generating the descent instruction set further includes generating a transition instruction set, and transmit the descent instruction set to a plurality of flight components, wherein each flight component of the plurality of flight components are coupled to the electric aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: BETA AIR LLC
    Inventor: Herman Wiegman
  • Patent number: 12253855
    Abstract: Provided is a method for an unmanned aerial vehicle to handle goods in cooperation with an autonomous vehicle. The method performed by the unmanned aerial vehicle includes at least: capturing an image of the autonomous vehicle having a goods storage box; recognizing a marker displayed in the goods storage box by analyzing the captured image; identifying a region occupied by the marker on the captured image; adjusting a relative position of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the autonomous vehicle. The marker displayed in the goods storage box is covered by a lid of the goods storage box and placed in a state that cannot be captured by the unmanned aerial vehicle. The marker is exposed in a state that can be captured by the unmanned aerial vehicle only when the lid of the storage box is opened by communication between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignees: PABLO AIR Co., Ltd., PABLO AIR International, INC.
    Inventors: Youngjoon Kim, Seung Han Lim
  • Patent number: 12246862
    Abstract: Provided includes the main body part 100 in which a number of rotors 101 controlled by the control unit 110 are installed on the outside, a number of wing bodies 200 in which the elastic member 220 is opened to both sides to absorb the impact in the event of a collision with the guide 210 placed on the outer side of the rotor 101, a parachute deployment unit 300 installed on the upper side of the main body part 100 and ejecting the parachute canopy 320 upward in an emergency situation, a lower airbag ejection unit 400 installed under the main body part 100 and inflating the lower airbag 401 downward in an emergency situation, and a landing gear unit 500 installed under the main body part 100.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2024
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Inventor: Yubin Park
  • Patent number: 12246835
    Abstract: An agricultural chemical spraying drone with improved safety is provided. The drone includes an altitude measurement sensor and a speed measurement sensor and controls not to exceed an altitude restriction and a speed restriction of an airframe by using a flight controller. The sensors are desirable be combination of multiple types. Particularly, the altitude is desirably measured by a GPS during take-off and by a sonar during chemical spraying. Weight of the airframe is measured from time to time, and the altitude restriction and the speed restriction may be adjusted according to the weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: NILEWORKS INC.
    Inventors: Chihiro Wake, Hiroshi Yanagishita
  • Patent number: 12242282
    Abstract: In some embodiments, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is provided. The UAV comprises one or more processors; a camera; one or more propulsion devices; and a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the one or more processors, cause the UAV to perform actions comprising: receiving at least one image captured by the camera; generating labels for pixels of the at least one image by providing the at least one image as input to a machine learning model; identifying one or more landing spaces in the at least one image based on the labels; determining a relative position of the UAV with respect to the one or more landing spaces; and transmitting signals to the one or more propulsion devices based on the relative position of the UAV with respect to the one or more landing spaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Wing Aviation LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Cobar, Jeremie Gabor, Ali Shoeb
  • Patent number: 12236795
    Abstract: A method includes selecting a landing waypoint on a runway and selecting a starting waypoint based on a location/heading of an aircraft relative to the runway. The method includes selecting additional waypoints between the starting waypoint and the landing waypoint. The starting and additional waypoints include latitude, longitude, and altitude variables. A sequence of waypoints from the starting waypoint to the landing waypoint via the additional waypoints indicates a desired location for the aircraft to traverse. The method includes generating location constraints for the starting and additional waypoints and generating an objective function for optimizing at least one of the variables. Additionally, the method includes generating a solution for the objective function subject to the location constraints. The solution includes latitude, longitude, and altitude values for the variables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: JOBY AERO, INC.
    Inventors: Maxime Marie Christophe Gariel, Marc Alain Lecerf, Evan Michael Wilson, Allen David Wu, Anne-Claire Le Bihan
  • Patent number: 12228664
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for locating a transmitter, which is implemented in a processing unit of a processing station of a locating system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2025
    Assignee: SAFRAN DATA SYSTEMS
    Inventors: Baptiste Guillot, Yann Picard
  • Patent number: 12230149
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for unmanned aerial vehicle authorization and geofence envelope determination. One of the methods includes determining, by an electronic system in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an estimated fuel remaining in the UAV. An estimated fuel consumption of the UAV is determined. Estimated information associated with wind affecting the UAV is determined using information obtained from sensors included in the UAV. Estimated flights times remaining for a current path, and one or more alternative flight paths, are determined using the determined estimated fuel remaining, determined estimated fuel consumption, determined information associated wind, and information describing each flight path. In response to the electronic system determining that the estimated fuel remaining, after completion of the current flight path, would be below a first threshold, an alternative flight path is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2025
    Assignee: Skydio, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Downey, Bernard J. Michini, Joseph Moster, Donald Curry Weigel, James Ogden
  • Patent number: 12217500
    Abstract: Automatic terrain evaluation of landing surfaces, and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. A representative method includes receiving a request to land a movable object and, in response to the request, identifying a target landing area on a landing surface based on at least one image of the landing surface obtained by the movable object. The method can further include directing the movable object to land at the target landing area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD.
    Inventors: Zhenyu Zhu, Honghui Zhang, You Zhou
  • Patent number: 12214902
    Abstract: Systems and methods related to landing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are provided. In one example, a method includes receiving a UAV on a surface of a landing platform. The method may further include operating a positioning device disposed under the surface to locate the UAV. The method may further include operating the positioning device to move the UAV to a location and/or an orientation on the surface. The UAV may comprise landing gear having a plurality of legs, where each leg comprises a shock absorption system. The method may further include operating the shock absorption system during the receiving operation to reduce force received at stress areas of the UAV, and after the receiving operation, operating the shock absorption system to dampen movement by the UAV. Related devices and systems are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: FLIR Unmanned Aerial Systems ULC
    Inventors: James Infanti, Albert Pegg, Tomi Kanninen
  • Patent number: 12208916
    Abstract: A method of providing contextual display modes for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle including obtaining aircraft flight information including a current position and altitude; retrieving vertiport information for a vertiport at the current position of the aircraft; displaying, to one or more operators of the aircraft, a takeoff synthetic vision display mode; transitioning, as the current altitude approaches the transitional altitude, from the takeoff synthetic vision display mode to a cruise synthetic vision display mode, wherein the cruise synthetic vision display mode represents the view from a cruise display viewpoint at the current altitude of the aircraft and at the current position of the aircraft; and displaying, in response to the current altitude equaling or exceeding the transitional altitude, the cruise synthetic vision display mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Sadguni Venkataswamy, Suresh Bazawada, Anil Kumar Songa, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohideen
  • Patent number: 12190744
    Abstract: The invention concerns a suborbital space traffic control system that comprises: a radar system configured to monitor a predetermined suborbital region and detect and track objects in the predetermined suborbital region. The objects include vehicles and space debris; and a suborbital space traffic monitoring system configured to: receive, from the radar system, tracking data related to the objects detected and tracked by the radar system; monitor, on the basis of the tracking data, trajectories of the objects in the predetermined suborbital region using one or more predetermined machine-learning techniques to detect potentially hazardous situations for the vehicles in the predetermined suborbital region; and, if it detects a potentially hazardous situation for one or more given vehicles, transmit corresponding alarm messages to the given vehicle(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: LEONARDO S.P.A.
    Inventors: Manuel Fuselli, Sandro Strappaveccia
  • Patent number: 12188847
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods including an aerial vehicle having a global positioning system (GPS) and at least one trace-gas sensor configured to generate gas data; and a processor having addressable memory, the processor configured to: determine a flight envelope based on a received spatial location, a received spatial location of the one or more potential gas sources, a received desired level of confidence, and a received wind data; determine a flight path for the aerial vehicle, where the flight path covers a portion of the determined flight envelope; and determine based on a received gas data whether a gas leak is present in the received spatial location to the received desired level of confidence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: SeekOps Inc.
    Inventors: Victor Alexander Miller, II, Stuart Buckingham, Brendan James Smith, Michael Price McGuire
  • Patent number: 12165525
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for assisting operation of an aircraft when diverting from a flight plan using a comparative vertical profile display. A vertical profile display includes a first graphical representation of a first vertical profile corresponding to a first lateral route defined by a flight plan for the aircraft and a second graphical representation of a second vertical profile corresponding to a modified lateral route different from the first lateral route displayed concurrently on the vertical profile display. The first vertical profile corresponding to the first lateral route is depicted on the vertical profile display in a first plane and the second vertical profile corresponding to the modified lateral route is depicted on the vertical profile display in a second plane different from the first plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Subash Samuthirapandian, Christopher Heine, Ivan Sandy Wyatt
  • Patent number: 12165532
    Abstract: In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having logic stored thereon is provided. The logic, in response to execution by one or more processors of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), causes the UAV to perform actions comprising receiving at least one ADS-B message from an intruder aircraft; generating a intruder location prediction based on the at least one ADS-B message; comparing the intruder location prediction to an ownship location prediction to detect conflicts; and in response to detecting a conflict between the intruder location prediction and the ownship location prediction, determining a safe landing location along a planned route for the UAV and descending to land at the safe landing location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: Wing Aviation LLC
    Inventors: Kevin Jenkins, John Mooney, Louis Dressel, Kyle Julian
  • Patent number: 12165529
    Abstract: A method is provided for supporting a robot in response to a contingency event. The method includes detecting the contingency event during travel of the robot on a route to a destination. In response, the method includes determining a position of the robot, and accessing information about alternate destinations associated with the route. The method includes selecting an alternate destination from the alternate destinations based on a time to travel from the position of the robot to the alternate destination, and the information. And the method includes outputting an indication of the alternate destination for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot to the alternate destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation
    Inventors: Carter Durno, Jeffery Saunders, William R. Bosworth
  • Patent number: 12159539
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) return method and apparatus and a UAV. The method includes: performing real-time fusion to generate velocity information of the UAV; determining, through integrating the velocity information, displacement information of a current location of the UAV relative to a takeoff location; determining a return starting point location of the UAV according to the displacement information; obtaining a return instruction, and determining a return mode; and controlling, according to the return mode, the UAV to return from the return starting point location to the takeoff location. In the foregoing manner, the present invention resolves the technical problem of poor accuracy that a current UAV returns by relying on GPS location information, and improves the returning accuracy of the UAV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: AUTEL ROBOTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yingjie Li, Gang Chen
  • Patent number: 12148314
    Abstract: A controller for selectively displaying information from raster charts is disclosed. The controller is configured to: retrieve raster data; assign a different priority level to each of a plurality of types of raster data; cause raster data having a predetermined priority level to be displayed with first augmentation information and prevent from being displayed raster data not having the first predetermined priority level, wherein the first augmentation information comprises database data retrieved from a database and is assigned a first predetermined augmentation information priority level; generate a hidden layer of second augmentation information comprising database data from the database that is correlated to a geographical location of the displayed raster data and assigned a second predetermined augmentation information priority level; and cause the hidden layer of second augmentation information to be displayed over a portion of the displayed raster data when the geographical location is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Gang He, Thea Feyereisen, Pavan Kumar Desai, Atmacharan Ajjavara, Rakshit R
  • Patent number: 12135861
    Abstract: Examples of systems and methods for voice-based navigation in one or more virtual areas that define respective persistent virtual communication contexts are described. These examples enable communicants to use voice commands to, for example, search for communication opportunities in the different virtual communication contexts, enter specific ones of the virtual communication contexts, and bring other communicants into specific ones of the virtual communication contexts. In this way, these examples allow communicants to exploit the communication opportunities that are available in virtual areas, even when hands-based or visual methods of interfacing with the virtual areas are not available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
    Inventor: David Van Wie
  • Patent number: 12137353
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for using unmanned vehicles to manage radio-based network infrastructure. In one embodiment, an unmanned vehicle is instructed to deliver a radio unit to a location to add coverage to a radio-based network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tipu Saleem Qureshi, Diwakar Gupta, Upendra Bhalchandra Shevade
  • Patent number: 12121826
    Abstract: A hand gesture controlled flying toy can utilize one or more infrared sensors and/or pressure sensors to determine how a user is interacting with the flying toy and conduct aerial maneuvers based on those interactions. The flying toy may be configured to ascend when lateral infrared sensors detect reflections of infrared light in multiple lateral directions. The flying toy may be configured to ascend when a pressure sensor detects a pressure increase from below the flying toy. The flying toy may be configured to conduct a roll responsive to an upward infrared sensor and a lateral infrared sensor detecting reflections of infrared light. The roll may be oriented at least partially based on which lateral infrared sensor detected a reflection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: AMAX GROUP USA, LLC
    Inventor: Darren Scott Matloff
  • Patent number: 12112646
    Abstract: A method for controlling flight of an aircraft system comprises deriving a liability map using mapping data related to one or more ground hazard categories, wherein each ground hazard category is associated with a type of hazard on a ground surface. The liability map comprises a plurality of risk liability values (L1 and/or L2) associated with the one or more ground hazard categories. The liability map is used to control one or more parameters for controlling flight of the aircraft system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF BATH
    Inventors: David Cleaver, Jonathan Du Bois, Pejman Iravani
  • Patent number: 12094354
    Abstract: A method in an aircraft for identifying valid runway intersections for takeoff is provided. The method comprises: estimating a runway length required for takeoff based on aircraft parameters; estimating, at each of a plurality of runway intersections, a corrected runway length at the runway intersection by applying an elevation correction, a temperature correction, and a gradient correction; determining, based on the estimated runway length required for takeoff and the corrected runway length at each of the plurality of runway intersections, each valid runway intersection from the plurality of runway intersections whose corrected runway length is long enough for use by the aircraft for takeoff and each invalid runway intersection from the plurality of runway intersections whose corrected runway length is not long enough for use by the aircraft for takeoff; and signaling an aircraft display device to display on a map depicting the takeoff runway each invalid runway intersection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Anil Kumar Songa, Kalaiarasu Velappan, Dileep Thekkumkara
  • Patent number: 12087092
    Abstract: An aircraft-based pilot safety system (PSS) includes cameras or other gaze sensors fixed at an aircraft pilot and configured to capture an image stream focused on the pilot's eyes. The gaze sensors continually assess the gaze direction of the pilot (e.g., toward a display, instrument panel, and/or indicator within the cockpit that the pilot is currently looking at or focusing on) and thereby can establish when the pilot is executing a scan pattern and if that scan pattern is nominal for the current flight context by comparing the scan pattern to context-specific reference scan patterns. If, for example, the pilot's gaze deviates from where it should be (e.g., as determined by the current flight segment) or the current scan pattern is interrupted, the system may prompt the pilot to redirect their gaze or resume the scan pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher L George, Arjun Harsha Rao, Timothy J. Wittkop, Wade T. Johnson, Peggy Wu, Michael P. Matessa
  • Patent number: 12077265
    Abstract: A ship state prediction system for predicting a ship state is based on measured wave fields. The ship state prediction is included in a ship state visualization which is shown on a display. The ship state visualization may further include an indication of a maximum prediction time and a user variable time that splits the ship state prediction into a non-updated portion and an updated portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: Next Ocean, B.V.
    Inventors: Peter Naaijen, Dorus Karel Roozen
  • Patent number: 12065273
    Abstract: A position correcting mechanism sandwiches, from both sides, a horizontal leg portion of a flying vehicle that has landed on a takeoff/landing surface of a stage, and moves the flying vehicle on the takeoff/landing surface to a position along a centerline. A grip mechanism grips a supporting leg portion of the flying vehicle. The flying vehicle is moved toward a securing device provided at an edge part of the stage, and an end portion of the horizontal leg portion is inserted into an insertion hole of an insertion part. The flying vehicle is thereby secured on the takeoff/landing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kiyokami, Masao Tajima
  • Patent number: 12066519
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide remote sensing imagery for mobile structures. A remote sensing imagery system includes a remote sensing assembly with a housing mounted to a mobile structure and a coupled logic device. The logic device is configured to receive radar returns corresponding to a detected target from the radar assembly, determine a target radial speed corresponding to the detected target, determine an adaptive target speed threshold, and then generate remote sensor image data based on the remote sensor returns, the target radial speed, and the adaptive target speed threshold. Subsequent user input and/or the sensor data may be used to adjust a steering actuator, a propulsion system thrust, and/or other operational systems of the mobile structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2024
    Assignee: FLIR Belgium BVBA
    Inventors: Richard Jales, Stephen D. Tostevin, Jean-Luc Kersulec
  • Patent number: 12060163
    Abstract: A ground marker for use in identifying a location associated with a mission performed by an aerial vehicle includes a visible surface with aspects that are positioned at different vertical heights or elevations. The vertical variation in the aspects of the visible surface enhances a level of visibility of the ground marker within images captured by cameras provided aboard the aerial vehicle, resulting in more accurate estimations of ranges to such markers (e.g., altitudes) determined from such images. The visible surface includes one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar codes, alphanumeric characters and symbols thereon and is provided on or within rigid or flexible frames that are adapted to be placed on ground surfaces at the location associated with the mission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ben Thompson Ludington, Takuma Nakamura
  • Patent number: 12043373
    Abstract: A landing gear for an aircraft includes a landing strut having proximal and distal ends with the proximal end couplable to the fuselage of the aircraft. The landing strut includes a gas chamber, a liquid chamber, a cylinder and a piston that is movable relative to the cylinder between extended and retracted positions. A wheel is coupled to the distal end of the landing strut. A force sensor is disposed between an extend stop surface of the piston and the chamber. Pressurized gas in the gas chamber biases the piston to the extended position such that the force sensor experiences a preload force. The force sensor is configured to detect a reduction in the preload force during a landing maneuver responsive to contact between the wheel and a landing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: Textron Innovations Inc.
    Inventors: Philip Reese Boyer, Jerry Allen Pongratz, Mason James Harvey
  • Patent number: 12037107
    Abstract: Method for braking at least one wheel of an aircraft, the wheel being provided with a brake having at least one braking actuator, comprising the steps of: generating a braking command (Com) on the basis of a braking setpoint (Cf); estimating a wheel speed; applying a dynamic correction to the braking command, the dynamic correction being a function of the braking command and of the wheel speed (V(t)), the dynamic correction comprising the step of producing a corrected braking command (Ccorr) which is greater than the braking command when the wheel speed is greater than or equal to a predetermined speed threshold, and then the step of reducing the correct braking command when the wheel speed becomes less than the predetermined speed threshold, with the result that the corrected braking command becomes less than the braking command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: SAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS
    Inventor: François Bonigen
  • Patent number: 12026440
    Abstract: A method for use of airport runway capacity includes receiving, at an air traffic control system at an airport, airport data related to movement areas of the airport, time data related to a time period, aircraft data related to a plurality of aircraft expected to operate into and out of the airport during the time period, and environmental data related to environmental conditions predicted for the airport during the time period. The method further includes computing a probability distribution for inter-aircraft spacing by applying the airport data, the time data, the aircraft data, and the environmental data to a trained Bayesian network, producing the probability distribution for the inter-aircraft spacing as an output observation of the trained Bayesian network, and, using the probability distribution and a confidence value, identifying an inter-aircraft spacing value for the plurality of aircraft expected to operate into and out of the airport during the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2024
    Assignee: Architecture Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Sweet, Sebastian Timar, Matthew Stillerman
  • Patent number: 12020582
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to house a vehicle, including a first container leg disposed on a first corner of a first container, a second container leg disposed on a second corner of the first container, a third container leg disposed on a third corner of the first container, a fourth container leg disposed on a fourth corner of the first container, at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth container legs each having an upper portion with a ramped receiving slot and a lower portion with a first ramped foot, and wherein the ramped receiving slot is to receive a protrusion associated with a second ramped foot of a second container different from the first container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Mark E. Barker, Aaron A. Wells, Bradley J. Bauer, Troy K. Maddox
  • Patent number: 12006883
    Abstract: The method can include, while the airplane is on the ground: entering a disking mode including positioning the blades at a disking pitch including rotating each blade around the length, the disking pitch oriented parallel to the plane of rotation; maintaining the blades at the disking pitch; and exiting the disking mode when a disking mode exit condition is met, including rotating each blade around the length, away from the disking pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Nicolas Des Roches-Dionne, Thomas Trevor Ricci, Charles Bolon-Bruhn, Jeremie Hebert
  • Patent number: 11999477
    Abstract: Disclosed is a drone station which allows the center of resonance of a drone to be always accurately aligned regardless of the initial landing position of the drone. The disclosed drone station includes a landing guidance instrument and a wireless charging instrument which is formed on the landing guidance instrument and wirelessly transmits the power to a drone positioned thereon, the landing guidance instrument having an inclined surface which moves the landed drone onto the top of the wireless charging instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: AMOSENSE CO., LTD
    Inventor: Gyu Weon Shin
  • Patent number: 12001225
    Abstract: There is provided a drone system in which a drone and a movable body operate in coordination with each other, the movable body being capable of moving with the drone aboard and allowing the drone to make a takeoff and a landing, the drone system includes a demarcating member that demarcates an operation area and detects an intruder into the operation area, the operation area being an area where at least one of the drone and the movable body performs an operation, the movable body includes a movement control section that stops movement of the movable body based on the detection of the intruder by the demarcating member, and the drone includes a landing position determining section that determines a landing position based on a stop position of the movable body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: NILEWORKS INC.
    Inventors: Chihiro Wake, Hiroshi Yanagishita
  • Patent number: 12001206
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for autonomously enabling remote operation of a vehicle such as an aircraft in response to detecting an event that may impact manual operation of the vehicle. One method autonomously detects an event with respect to manual operation of the vehicle based at least in part on output from one or more systems onboard the vehicle, identifies a hands-free functionality of a vehicle system to be activated based at least in part on a characteristic of the event, and autonomously initiates activation of the hands-free functionality of the vehicle system. A command for operating the vehicle is received from an external system via an onboard communications system and provided to the vehicle system for further implementation or execution using the hands-free functionality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Narayanan Srinivasan, Kiran Gopala Krishna, Gobinathan Baladhandapani, Hariharan Saptharishi
  • Patent number: 11994407
    Abstract: A method of supporting robot(s) landing within a ground region is provided. The method includes accessing a map in which the ground region is tessellated into cells covering respective areas of the ground region. Each cell is classified as feasible to indicate a respective area is feasible for landing, or infeasible to indicate the respective area is infeasible for landing. The map is searched for clusters of adjoining cells that are classified as feasible, covering clusters of adjoining areas that define sub-regions within the ground region that are feasible for landing. The sub-regions are ranked according to a cost metric, and one of the sub-regions is selected according to the ranking. A geographic position of the selected sub-region is then output for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot(s) to land at the selected sub-region within the ground region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Nathan Otenti, Joseph Chung, Jeffery Saunders
  • Patent number: 11995430
    Abstract: A system, platform, computer program product, and/or method for managing UAV resources is disclosed that includes: receiving UAV specifications to provision one or more UAVs; converting the UAV specifications to UAV specification metadata; transforming the UAV specification metadata to UAV configuration metadata to configure UAV software for the one or more UAVs; and configuring, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV software for the one or more UAVs. The system, platform, program product, and method can further include assembling, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV hardware of the one or more UAVs; deploying the one or more UAVs from a base location to a new location; transferring control over operation of the one or more UAVs to a third-party operator; creating and configuring a network connection to the one or more UAVs; and/or remotely logging into an operating system of the one or more UAVs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chuan Ran, Oluwanifemi Oluyemi, Vamsee Movva, A. Jaylani Sharif
  • Patent number: 11989038
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are embodiments for providing contingency automation to emergency response. One embodiment of a method includes determining a route for a vehicle to a primary destination, and determining a first upcoming area along the route that has been previously identified as an emergency response zone, where the emergency response zone may be used as a secondary destination in a contingency route for the vehicle in an emergency. In some embodiments, the method may include reserving airspace for the contingency route, determining that the emergency response zone is no longer useful, based on an updated position of the vehicle, and canceling the contingency route from reservation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC
    Inventors: Szabolcs A. Borgyos, Adam J. Diffenderfer
  • Patent number: 11983016
    Abstract: A computerized method and system provide for vehicle routing by providing a route of travel for a vehicle to a destination point. The traffic is continuously monitored, and should the traffic become congested and/or unbalanced, at, proximate to, or beyond (downstream) a junction along the route of travel, the route of travel for the vehicle is modified by at least one of: 1) changing at least a portion of the route of travel of the vehicle; or, 2) replacing the route of travel of the vehicle with a new route of travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Inventor: Shlomo Vardi
  • Patent number: 11948344
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of inland vessel identification and ranging technology, and discloses a method, system, medium, equipment and terminal for identifying and ranging inland vessels. In the stage of vessel identification, based on the classical YOLO-V4 network model, the MobileNetV1 network is used to replace the feature extraction network CSPDarknet53 of the YOLO-V4 model; In the stage of vessel ranging, a binocular stereo vision ranging model is established, and the FSRCNN is used for super-resolution reconstruction of the original image pairs to enhance the vessel feature information; the ORB algorithm is used to achieve feature detection and matching at the sub-pixel level to obtain the parallax value between image pairs, and the depth information of the vessel target is obtained by triangulation principle and coordinate conversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Wuhan University of Technology
    Inventors: Yuanzhou Zheng, Long Qian, Jingxin Cao, Xinyu Liu, Xuemeng Lv, Lei Li, Shiquan Qin
  • Patent number: 11928977
    Abstract: A system for assisting in the landing of an aircraft including a processing unit configured to: during a first phase of a landing runway approach procedure, when the aircraft flies above a predetermined height with respect to a landing runway threshold, determine a bias of position and speed information from an inertia unit of the aircraft, as a function of the merged position and speed information determined as a function of information from a receiver of ILS guidance signals and of information from a signal receiver of a satellite navigation system, then, during a second phase of the approach procedure, when the aircraft flies below the predetermined height, determine so-called adjusted aircraft position and speed information by applying, to information from the inertial unit, a correction corresponding to the bias determined during the first phase of the approach procedure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventor: Nicolas Marconnet
  • Patent number: 11924278
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for securely monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly using elements of a wireless node network of sensor-based ID nodes disposed within the container and a command node associated with the container. The method has the command node identifying which of the ID nodes are confirmed as trusted sensors based upon a security credential specific to each of the ID nodes; monitoring only the confirmed ID nodes for sensor data broadcast those ID nodes; detecting the anomaly based upon the sensor data from at least one of the confirmed ID nodes; automatically generating an alert notification related to the detected environmental anomaly for the shipping container; and transmitting the alert notification to the external transceiver to initiate a mediation response related to the detected environmental anomaly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: FedEx Corporate Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Ole-Petter Skaaksrud
  • Patent number: 11922819
    Abstract: A system for autonomously landing a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, comprising: a first sensor; a second sensor; and a processing resource configured to: (a) obtain, from, the first sensor, first readings; (b) generate, at a first rate, based on at least part of the first readings, a 3D model of at least, part of a scene visible by the first sensor; (c) obtain, from the second sensor, a plurality of second readings, enabling identifying changes within the at least part of the scene; (d) analyze at least part of the second readings, at a second rate, to obtain changes information indicative of the changes; (e) identify, using the 3D model and the changes information, potential landing areas for the aircraft; (f) generate commands to maneuver the aircraft towards a selected landing area of the potential landing areas; and (g) repeat steps (a) to (f) until landing the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: WONDER ROBOTICS LTD
    Inventors: Amnon Demri, Idan Shimon
  • Patent number: 11897630
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for drone landing ground station. A method includes determining that a drone is landing on a ground station, based on determining that the drone is landing on the ground station, determining a magnetic field to generate at a first magnetic component at a first position in the ground station and an opposing magnetic polar at a second magnetic component at a second position in the ground station, and generating the magnetic field at the first magnetic component and the opposing magnetic field at the second magnetic component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Alarm.com Incorporated
    Inventors: Babak Rezvani, Donald Gerard Madden, Glenn Tournier, Ahmad Seyfi
  • Patent number: 11899471
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to guide an unmanned aerial vehicle for recovery thereof are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus to recover an aircraft or a payload thereof includes a tether line, and markers supported by the tether line at different positions of the tether line, the markers to be detected by the aircraft, the aircraft to be guided to engage the tether line by determining positions of the markers and calculating a position of at least a portion of the tether line based on the determined position of the markers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Insitu, Inc. (a subsidiary of The Boeing Company)
    Inventor: Matthew J. Bartow
  • Patent number: 11887491
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes: receiving, by a computing device, input data for identifying one or more landing site candidates for an aerial vehicle. The input data includes a set of criteria, terrain information, and obstacle information. The method further includes identifying, by the computing device, the one or more landing site candidates based on the input data and the criteria; providing, by the computing device, information regarding the identified one or more landing site candidates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael J. Browne, Andreas Godehart, Miriam Cornel
  • Patent number: 11884417
    Abstract: A system and method for emergency manual flight direction to a non-pilot enables the non-pilot an ability to safely land an aircraft after an event causing a single pilot of the aircraft to become unable to perform pilot tasks. The emergency flight director (EFD) receives inputs from a plurality of sources and displays information, maneuver, configuration and communication commands to the non-pilot on a flight deck display. Inputs to the system include aircraft state data as well as airport and current weather information associated with each available airport. The EFD determines an appropriate emergency landing runway and presents simplified commands coupled with animated aircraft specific graphics to the non-pilot to manually fly the aircraft to a safe landing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel B. Goldman
  • Patent number: 11881114
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for communicating information to an electronic flight bag device (EFB) comprises receiving one or more notification to airmen messages (NOTAMs) that specify conditions associated with one or more runways or taxiways of an airport. The computing system selects from among the received NOTAMs one or more NOTAMs that specify particular conditions under which corresponding runways or taxiways are or will be closed to aircraft traffic. For each selected NOTAM, the computing system generates overlay data that specifies a graphical representation indicative of the particular conditions under which the corresponding runway or taxiway is or will be closed. The computing system communicates the overlay data associated with the selected NOTAMs to the EFB. The graphical representations specified by the overlay data are configured to be overlayed on a map that depicts runways and taxiways and that is configured to be presented by the EFB.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Daniel Artic