A tethered drone system has a drone that carries telecommunication equipment, such as one or more cellular transceivers and an antenna, that enables the system to provide access to a telecommunication network for a plurality of remote communication devices in a vicinity of the drone. The drone may be disassembled to facilitate transport to a location at which additional cellular service is desired, such as a remote location or an area impacted by a catastrophic weather or geological event. At or near such location, the drone may be quickly assembled and launched. While airborne, the drone may hover for an extended period of time, such as several, hours, days, weeks, or even longer, while the telecommunication equipment carried by the drone provides access to the telecommunication network.

A tether guide operable through a wide range of tether/fleeting angles while causing minimal wear and having a reduced size compared to a levelwind wheel. The tether guide may include a series of rollers approximating the curved shape and radius of levelwind wheel. The tether guide may include downward facing guide wings matched to a curved roller profile, but flaring out to capture and guide tether into rollers. Sensors may be included on the tether guide to provide information about tether location, including whether the tether is engaged in the tether guide.

Provided is a flight vehicle operating method including: mooring a flight vehicle to a mooring unit by a cable; reducing a weight of the flight vehicle, increasing the flotage of the flight vehicle, or increasing the flotage of the flight vehicle while reducing the weight of the flight vehicle, by using a first flotation adjuster; floating the flight vehicle at a suitable altitude in the air; increasing the weight of the flight vehicle, reducing the flotage of the flight vehicle, or reducing the flotage of the flight vehicle while increasing the weight of the flight vehicle, by using a second flotation adjuster or a propelling unit of the flight vehicle; and releasing the connection between the flight vehicle and the mooring unit and withdrawing the cable.

Provided is a flight vehicle operating method including: mooring a flight vehicle to a mooring unit by a cable; reducing a weight of the flight vehicle, increasing the flotage of the flight vehicle, or increasing the flotage of the flight vehicle while reducing the weight of the flight vehicle, by using a first flotation adjuster; floating the flight vehicle at a suitable altitude in the air; increasing the weight of the flight vehicle, reducing the flotage of the flight vehicle, or reducing the flotage of the flight vehicle while increasing the weight of the flight vehicle, by using a second flotation adjuster or a propelling unit of the flight vehicle; and releasing the connection between the flight vehicle and the mooring unit and withdrawing the cable.

Airborne turbine systems with multiple aerial vehicles connected via multiple tethers to a shared ground station are disclosed. The ground station includes a multi-tether clock-face de-twist apparatus with a de-twist element that rotates along with the looping aerial vehicles. The de-twist element may be passively rotated through torque applied via the tethers or may be actively rotated via a drive system.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for increasing the mechanical energy of an aerial vehicle as part of an Airborne Wind Turbine are disclosed. The aerial vehicle is coupled to a distal portion of a tether and a ground station is coupled to a proximal portion of the tether. A mass possessing a gravitational potential energy is also coupled to the proximal portion of the tether. A connector is configured to releasably hold the mass at an elevation. Release of the mass transfers energy to the aerial vehicle by increasing tension in the tether.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for increasing the mechanical energy of an aerial vehicle as part of an Airborne Wind Turbine are disclosed. The aerial vehicle is coupled to a distal portion of a tether and a ground station is coupled to a proximal portion of the tether. A mass possessing a gravitational potential energy is also coupled to the proximal portion of the tether. A connector is configured to releasably hold the mass at an elevation. Release of the mass transfers energy to the aerial vehicle by increasing tension in the tether.

An aerial spraying apparatus (unmanned aerial vehicle system) includes one or more drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), and a station on the ground that is connected by wire to at least one of the one or more drones. Each of the one or more drones is equipped with a drone side cable connected to the station or another drone, and a drone side cable mechanism that performs paying out or pulling in of the drone side cable.

Systems including tethers with one or more attached airfoil tails are described. Some systems include reversibly deformable struts that attach the tails to a tether to allow for stretch of the tether when the tether is under tension. The form of the tails may vary along the length of the tether to account for different aerodynamic design considerations.

An apparatus for controlling a still position in the air, allowing a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a plurality of rotors to move swiftly to a given position in the air and make its airframe hover stably in that position, the apparatus including a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a plurality of rotors, a stationary plane from which and on which the miniature unmanned aerial vehicle takes off and lands, and a plurality of string-like members which link the miniature unmanned aerial vehicle with the stationary plane, wherein the plurality of string-like members are stretched to a length for all the members to become tense when the miniature unmanned aerial vehicle has come to a specified position which is a given position in the air. Also, it is preferable that the plurality of string-like members include at least three string-like members.