An autonomous vehicle and a drone-based emergency response method thereof are provided. The autonomous vehicle includes a communication device that supports communication with a drone and a detection device that detects vehicle status information and driving environment information. A processing device detects an emergency situation occurring on a road based on the vehicle status information and the driving environment information while autonomous driving and performs a response logic matching the recognized emergency situation using the drone.

Systems and methods using VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircrafts including drones and helicopters for soft capture, preserving, and landing of a returning spacecraft from space are disclosed. The spacecraft is decelerated by parachutes. One or multiple VTOL drones transport a water impermeable pocket meeting and capturing the descending spacecraft in the air. The spacecraft is thus preserved inside the pocket and keeps descending and then softly lands in a body of water. In another embodiment, a recovery helicopter, one type of VTOL aircraft with heavy payload lifting capacity, is used to directly catch the returning spacecraft. One or multiple VTOL drones are coupled to the bottom end of a recovery cable hung from the helicopter. These drones bring a clutch quickly and precisely catching the descending spacecraft directly without interrupting the parachutes. The spacecraft is thus caught and preserved by the helicopter with lifting function of the parachutes maintained.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone executes a neural network to assist with detecting and responding to attacks. The neural network may monitor, in real time, the data stream from a plurality of onboard sensors during navigation and may communicate with a high-altitude pseudosatellite (HAPS) platform. For example, if the neural network detects a cyber-attack but determines that it does not interfere with external communications, it may shift navigation control of the drone to the HAPS.

Exchange of flight path information between a mobile network and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assumes a particular format for the flight path information, usually a waypoint format. However, there are many circumstances in which the mobile network may prefer flight path information in other formats, such as polygon formats (also referred to as flight volume formats). Techniques and apparatuses described herein provide greater flexibility with respect to formatting requests for flight path information and encoding responses to such requests. For example, a base station may transmit a request for flight path information with a format indicator that informs a UAV of a desired format for the requested flight path information. The UAV may then provide the flight path information according to the format indicator.

A flying surface may comprise a plurality of interconnectable flying vehicles configured for mid-flight reconfiguration of the flying surface. Each flying vehicle may be entirely self-sufficient, including an onboard thrust unit, an onboard controller, an onboard power unit, and connectors configured to engage corresponding connectors of other flying vehicles to form a flying surface. The flying vehicles may additionally be configured for self-control, thereby enabling a distributed control model for a flying surface that does not require significant, centralized processing power and corresponding power storage. The flying surfaces may dynamically reconfigure mid-flight by attaching or detaching flying vehicles so as to enable a wide variety of in-flight maneuvers.

Systems and methods for sanitizing pool and spa water are provided. An electrolytic chlorinator is provided which includes a combined flow, temperature, and salt concentration sensor. The electrolytic chlorinator could include an acid tank for in-situ cleaning of the electrolytic chlorinator or acidification of pool/spa water where needed. A delayed polarity reversal technique is provided for de-scaling and managing passivation of the blades of an electrolytic chlorinator. The electrolytic chlorinator could include a sacrificial anode for protecting components of the chlorinator as well as other pool/spa components. The electrolytic chlorinator could include an integral, electrically-controlled acid generator, a brine tank for periodically superchlorinating and/or shocking pool/spa water, and/or a plurality of chemical tanks/feeds for periodically injecting chemicals into the chlorinator. A combined ultraviolet (UV)/Ozone and salt (electrolytic) chlorine generator is provided, as well as: filters having integral UV sanitizers; reflective linings for UV sanitization systems; means for injecting bubbles into pool/spa water; and a system for acquiring and analyzing samples of pool/spa water using an unmanned aircraft (drone).

Systems, devices, and methods for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); a trace gas sensor disposed on the UAV, where the gas sensor is configured to measure a gas point concentration; a wind sensor, where the wind sensor is configured to determine a discrete wind vector corresponding to the gas point concentration measurement; and where the discrete wind vector and gas point concentration measurement are acquired substantially concurrently and co-locally.

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.

A system including a drone device comprising securable compartments, each of the securable compartments lockable and configured to be unlocked by a user or a remote device is provided. The system also includes a series of sensors provided with the drone device and configured to assess health attributes of the user while the drone is positioned proximate the user and a remote computing system configured to receive sensed information from the drone device and assess health of the user, wherein the remote computing system holographically displays health attributes of the user. The drone device travels to the user to provide or receive healthcare related objects to or from the user. The series of sensors comprise at least one audio sensor and at least one video sensor configured to assess user health attributes about the user's body in a contactless manner based on both audio and visual health attribute readings.

An apparatus including a cylindrical rotating body having a surface section that functions as a driving wheel or a working member. The apparatus includes a main body, a cylindrical rotating body disposed below the main body, and a control unit configured to control driving of the cylindrical rotating body, where the cylindrical rotating body includes a motor, and an exterior body configured to be rotated by the motor, and the exterior body or a member provided on a surface of the exterior body functions as a driving wheel or a working member.