In an example embodiment, a drone-based system comprises: a base station, wherein the base station is configured to provide drone control and power; a drone; a tether connecting the base station to the drone and configured to provide the drone with the power from the base station; and a lighting system, operably attached to the drone via the tether, configured to generate illumination of a ground area, wherein the illumination of the ground area is controllable by modifying least one of an intensity of the illumination and a height of the drone above the ground area.

A controller of an information processing apparatus is configured to control a vehicle to drive automatically by communicating with the vehicle via a communication interface, the vehicle being capable of towing a work vehicle and of driving automatically on public roads.

A processor-implemented method includes receiving, at a processor, from a transceiver and without human intervention, location data associated with a target. The processor receives, from the transceiver, product data for a resupply request referencing the target, the product data including at least one of a product type or a product quantity. The processor generates, without human intervention, unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) mission data based on the location data and the product data, the UAV mission data including a representation of at least one UAV and flight path data for the at least one UAV. The UAV mission data is caused to transmit to at least one UAV controller to cause the at least one UAV controller to initiate navigation of the at least one UAV according to the UAV mission data.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for reserving airspace for UAV operations. In some implementations, a flight planning system can reserve and allocate airspace for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. For example, a UAV operator device can submit a flight plan to the flight planning system. The flight planning system can submit a flight authorization request to an airspace management system to reserve airspace necessary for the flight plan. The flight planning system can receive approval and/or a reservation of the airspace for the flight plan from the airspace management system, generate a flight data package, and send the flight data package to the operator's device.

Provided is a system for point to point wireless power transmission including: a plurality of autonomous and semi-autonomous unmanned systems configured as a mobile transmitting and/or receiving power station, through which unmanned systems can navigate, maneuver, beam ride, and recharge from point to point. Provided is a method of adapting unmanned systems to receive and transmit power point-to-point amongst themselves. The method includes controlling a swarm formed from a plurality of autonomous synchronized unmanned systems to form a larger transmitter and receiver for a mobile power station.

A self-flying hands-free shaving apparatus includes: a drone configured to autonomously fly and hover in air; video cameras that capture live video of the surroundings; and a processor that performs real-time computer vision analysis of live video, to guide the apparatus at which directions to fly and where to remain hovering. A telescopic arm extends from the hovering apparatus, and pivots or rotates to bring an affixed electric shaver towards a face-region of a human, for shaving it. Tactile sensors detect touch, and assist in confirming to the processor that shaving is indeed performed. Data sensed by LIDAR sensors and thermal imagers assists the processor in commanding the apparatus and its telescopic arm, and augments the data obtained by computer vision analysis of the live video from the video cameras.

A system for testing a radio transmitter includes multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The multiple UAVs are deployed in the environment surrounding the radio transmitter, enabling simultaneous measurement of the signal emitted by the radio transmitter at multiple points in a variety of configurations. In some implementations, one of the UAVs can be configured as a control unit that facilitates communication between the radio transmitter and the remaining UAVs. In this manner, measurements can be transmitted from the UAVs to the transmitter in real-time. These measurements can then be used as feedback to quickly adjust the radio transmission or reception or to update the flight pattern of the UAVs.

A method, apparatus, and system for supplying power during the takeoff and landing of an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft is disclosed herein. A power supplying method is performed by a power supply system comprising a drone and a hub. The power supplying method includes: determining whether power is required for an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft to land on the hub using battery information of the UAM aircraft when the UAM aircraft is determined to be in a landing mode; moving the drone from the hub to the UAM aircraft using location information of the UAM aircraft when it is determined that power is additionally required for the UAM aircraft to land on the hub; docking the drone to the UAM aircraft to couple with; and supplying power required for the UAM aircraft to land on the hub to the UAM aircraft by the drone.

A method and apparatus used to determine atmospheric extinction coefficients in conjunction with an unmanned aerial vehicle are provided. The unmanned aerial vehicle may include a central body, at least one motor operatively connected to the central body, a condensation particle detection payload, and a data acquisition board including memory operatively connected to the data acquisition board, and a processor configured to generate extinction information.

A method for capturing videos and/or images of a target area using a single camera configured with an aerial vehicle (AV) is disclosed including the steps of moving the AV over the area of interest along a straight path; capturing a first set of images of an area down below by pointing an optical axis of the camera towards a first side of the straight path such that the optical axis makes a first set of predefined angles with vertical; and capturing a second set of images of the area down below by pointing the optical axis of the camera towards a second side of the straight path such that the optical axis makes a second set of predefined angles with respect to the vertical. Side overlap between the first and second set of images is optimized to account for error in camera movement.