Emergency Drone Landing Systems

Drone with stable landing and shock absorbing capabilities that can mitigate impact during crashes. The drone has a parachute for primary emergency landing, but if the parachute fails, upper and lower airbags deploy to cushion landing. The drone also has a landing gear with adjustable suspension to prevent ground strikes on uneven surfaces. The landing gear has sensors to detect abnormal flight posture and trigger the airbag deployment. The wing body has foam cushioning to protect against impacts. The drone has a control unit with sensors to monitor flight conditions and communicate wirelessly with a remote controller.

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A device for autonomously returning drones to their starting point in the event of an emergency during flight. The device consists of a parachute, a high-pressure gas propulsion system, and a control system. When an emergency is detected, the parachute opens using gas ejection to deploy the parachute and prevent falls. The control system then calculates a return flight path based on the drone's departure location, flight data, and current position. It uses the high-pressure gas propulsion system to autonomously fly the drone back to the starting point.

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A fixed-wing drone recovery system that allows landing of high-speed drones without runways using a moving recovery platform. The system involves attaching the drone to a carrier vehicle, which moves at a constant speed. The drone catches up, syncs position, and lands on a recovery net. This shortens landing distance, eliminates runways, and improves braking vs fixed runways. The carrier vehicle's motion increases deceleration, and a flexible net reduces impact. The drone and vehicle communicate for real-time coordination.

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Controlling the slow descent of a firefighting drone using an optimized sequence of steps to improve safety and reduce secondary disasters when the drone crashes. The steps are: (1) check if fault level exceeds threshold, (2) check power conditions, (3) adjust drone attitude, (4) stop propellers, (5) open parachute. If power is insufficient, open parachute directly. If flight height is low or fault duration long, open parachute again. This sequence allows controlled descent while preventing propeller damage and reducing crash impact.

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A multi-mode drone with backup power supply for reliable operation and safe landing. The drone has a main power supply and a backup power supply connected to the flight controller. The parachute is connected to the backup power supply. In case of main power failure, the backup power allows the flight controller to continue functioning. This prevents crashes due to power outages. The backup power also enables the GPS to keep working and the drone to be tracked. Additionally, the backup power opens the parachute for safe landing.

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Device for rapid parachute deployment on UAVs to improve recovery safety and reliability. It uses a parachute rocket to quickly pull out and inflate the main parachute. A top parachute attaches to the rocket and helps straighten the main parachute. After a delay, the rocket separates. A cutter releases the main parachute. This avoids long parachute opening times and allows emergency recovery. A towing parachute inflates the main parachute faster. The UAV body lands horizontally and separates from the main parachute.

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A safe and lightweight parachute landing method for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that allows landing in open areas without requiring additional weight from wheels or belly landing gear. The method involves automatically deploying a parachute when conditions indicate a safe landing. The UAV's motor stops spinning the propellers before parachute deployment. This ensures the UAV is stationary before the parachute opens. The parachute is then deployed after a brief delay to allow the UAV to come to a complete stop. The parachute landing system uses onboard sensors to detect flight parameters like speed, wind, and altitude to determine when to deploy the parachute.

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Device to protect and locate out-of-control drones by using a modular housing with parachute, sensors, and positioning modules. The parachute deploys when acceleration near zero indicates freefall. Sensors monitor drone motion. The positioning module quickly finds the drone after it crashes. This allows recovering intact drones instead of damage from crashes. The modular design allows replacing just the parachute box for reuse. The optimized parachute opening algorithm ensures timely deployment.

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A method for lossless and precise recovery of fixed-wing drones and automatic disturbance rejection control. The method involves using RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) positioning to accurately track the drone's flight path. This track is used to guide the drone into a recovery area. If interference occurs during the recovery, the drone's position errors are analyzed and the trajectory is adjusted to compensate for the interference. This allows the drone to autonomously land without damage or loss.

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An aircraft designed for safe emergency landings, particularly for drones that uses a fixed parachute and proper center of gravity positioning. The aircraft has a parachute with a rigid frame that is permanently open and connected to the body. The center of gravity is located below the aerodynamic center. These features allow the aircraft to enter a passive parachuting mode without power and descend vertically with stability and a controlled descent rate.

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A multimodal sensor-based autonomous landing system for aircraft that leverages beacon infrastructure at landing sites along with onboard cameras, ranging radios, and GPS to provide precise, low latency, and robust autonomous landing guidance. The landing system uses multimodal sensing modes, including visual, radio range, and GPS, to accurately localize the aircraft relative to beacons and visual indicators at the landing site. This enables autonomous aircraft to land precisely at designated points in varied conditions using onboard perception sensors and multimodal beacon infrastructure instead of relying solely on GPS.

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Drones and air mobility vehicles with deployable air flaps reduce rotation and impact during emergency landings when rotors fail. The vehicles have flaps on the rotor arms that can be deployed downward to create drag and counteract the yaw caused by a failed rotor. A controller detects rotor abnormalities and activates the flaps when needed. The flaps deploy in a specific order to minimize rotation.

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Buoyancy and impact recovery system (BIRS) for UAVs to enable safe recovery after failure or crashes over water. The BIRS has inflatable bladders to provide buoyancy when deployed. It also has sensors to detect threats, a controlled descent system to reduce impact speed, and a distress signal capability. If a failure is detected, it inflates the bladders to float the UAV on water and initiates a controlled descent. A distress signal is transmitted with the UAV's position for later recovery.

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A parachute system for unmanned drones that quickly deploys a parachute in emergency situations to prevent crashes. The system consists of a parachute, an ejection mechanism, and a small gas generator. When an onboard sensor detects an anomaly, it triggers the ejection mechanism to forcefully eject the gas generator-equipped module from the drone. Once separated, the gas generator ignites and fills the module with gas, rapidly deploying the attached parachute. The ejected module then descends under the parachute while the main drone is free to crash safely away from people or property.

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Deploying a visual navigation system for UAVs that provides reliable positioning when GPS signals are unavailable or unreliable. The technique involves placing multiple geo-fiducials around a landing pad, each with a unique offset and direction from a surveyed center point. The UAV uses computer vision to recognize and triangulate the geo-fiducials for precise navigation.

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A docking system for drones that provides a method for precision landing and automatic docking with a drone landing pad. The system uses a wire and tension adjusters on the landing pad to catch and slow down the landing drone. The tension adjusters wind the wire to adjust the tension and position. The drone has a magnetic unit that locks onto the landing pad after landing. This allows precise positioning and automatic attachment without requiring onboard sensors.

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A suspended landing and take-off base for unmanned aerial vehicles that allows self-centering landings without requiring precise alignment. The base has a conical shape that funnels drones towards a central retaining mechanism. The retaining mechanism can grip the drone during landing and release it for takeoff, allowing the drone to autonomously hook onto the base even if it approaches off-center.

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An autonomous system for capturing, retaining, and releasing a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a moving landing platform. The system uses multiple automated capture mechanisms that extend and retract to grab and release the UAV. This allows the UAV to be secured to the platform after landing, recharged, and released for takeoff without needing manual intervention. The extending capture arms engage with a retention ring on the UAV to hold it in place on the moving platform.

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Precise recovery method and system for unmanned aerial vehicles that improves recovery accuracy by predicting the energy needed to land at a specific point and timing the parachute deployment accordingly. The system predicts the energy required at the desired landing point based on factors like altitude, speed, and aerodynamic losses. It then issues a parachute deployment command when the predicted energy matches the actual energy. This allows more precise landing points and speeds compared to fixed recovery strategies.

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Emergency parachute system for lightweight multi-rotor drones that allows safe recovery of the drone in case of a crash. The system includes a drogue parachute, power source, and umbrella-shaped cabin structure. The drogue parachute slows the drone's descent. The cabin protects the drone during impact. A shear pin releases the parachute at a certain speed. The cabin umbrella shape prevents it from collapsing during landing. The power source recharges the drone after landing. This system mitigates the risks of crashing and damaging the drone and surrounding people/buildings.

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