A method of planning a flight path for a search can include receiving, by a control system, an indication of a search area boundary; receiving, by the control system, an indication of a selected search pattern; determining, by the control system, a flight path based on the search area boundary and the selected search pattern; and transmitting one or more indications of the flight path to an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Provided are an unmanned aerial vehicle executing medical support work and assisting in the work supposed to be performed by a health care worker or replacing the health care worker and a medical support method for performing medical support work by using an unmanned aerial vehicle. An unmanned aerial vehicle capable of performing autonomous flight includes a receiving unit receiving an input of medical support work from a health care worker and a control unit controlling the execution of the medical support work based on content of the input received by the receiving unit.

An autonomy system for use with a vehicle in an environment. The autonomy system comprising a processor operatively coupled with a memory device, a plurality of sensors operatively coupled with the processor; a vehicle controller, a situational awareness module, a task planning module, and a task execution module. The situational awareness module being configured to determine a state of the environment based at least in part on sensor data from at least one of the plurality of sensors. The task planning module being configured to identify, via the processor, a plurality of tasks to be performed by the vehicle and to generate a task assignment list from the plurality of tasks that is based at least in part on predetermined optimization criteria. The task execution module being configured to instruct the vehicle controller to execute the plurality of tasks in accordance with the task assignment list. The task execution module may be configured to monitor the vehicle or the vehicle controller during execution of the task assignment list to identify any errors.

Systems and methods to control gain of an electric aircraft are provided in this disclosure. The system may include gain scheduling to provide stability of the electric aircraft at various dynamic states of operation. The system may include a sensor to obtain measurement datum of an operating state. The system may further include a controller that adjusts a control gain of the electric aircraft as a function of the measurement datum. The gain control may be determined by a gain schedule generated by the controller.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”) which fly to destinations (e.g., for delivering items) may land on transportation vehicles (e.g., delivery trucks, etc.) for temporary transport. An agreement with the owner of the transportation vehicles (e.g., a shipping carrier) may be made for obtaining consent and determining compensation for landings, and the associated transportation vehicles that are available for landings may be identified by markers on the roof or other identification techniques. The routes of the transportation vehicles may be known and utilized to determine locations where UAVs will land on and take off from the transportation vehicles, and in cases of emergencies (e.g., due to low batteries, mechanical issues, etc.) the UAVs may land on the transportation vehicles for later retrieval.

A system includes a mobile platform that moves under remote and/or autonomous control, a sensor package supported by the mobile platform that obtains information relating to a component of a transportation network, and one or more processors that receive the sensor information and analyze the information in combination with other information that is not obtained from the sensor package. The processors also generate an output that displays information relating to one or more of a status, a condition, and/or a state of health of the component of the transportation network; initiates an action to change an operational state of the component; identifies a hazard to one or more vehicles traveling within the transportation network; and/or collects the information relating to the component. Optionally, the component is not communicatively coupled to an information network and the mobile platform provides the information obtained by the sensor package to the information network.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control technologies, and in particular, to an obstacle avoidance method and apparatus for UAV landing and a UAV. The obstacle avoidance method for UAV landing includes: obtaining a point cloud distribution map of a to-be-landed zone; determining a safe zone in the to-be-landed zone according to the point cloud distribution map; determining a target position in the safe zone; and controlling the UAV to move to the target position, to enable the UAV to be away from an obstacle in the to-be-landed zone. According to the foregoing manner, the embodiments of the present invention may avoid an obstacle in the to-be-landed zone and reduce a risk of crashing of the UAV.

This disclosure is directed to varying a speed of one or more motors in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to reduce unwanted sound (i.e., noise) of the UAV. A UAV may include motors coupled with propellers to provide lift and propulsion to the UAV in various stages of flight, such as while ascending, descending, hovering, or transiting. The motors and propellers may generate noise, which may include a number of noise components such as tonal noise (e.g., a whining noise such as a whistle of a kettle at full boil) and broadband noise (e.g., a complex mixture of sounds of different frequencies, such as the sound of ocean surf). By varying the controls to the motors, such as by varying the speed or revolutions per minute (RPM) of a motor during operation by providing random or pseudo-random RPM variations, the UAV may generate a noise signature with reduced tonal noise.

An unmanned aircraft includes a forward propulsion system comprising one or more forward thrust engines and one or more corresponding rotors coupled to the forward thrust engines; a vertical propulsion system comprising one or more vertical thrust engines and one or more corresponding rotors coupled to the vertical thrust engines; a plurality of sensors; and a yaw control system, that includes a processor configured to monitor one or more aircraft parameters received from at least one of the plurality of sensors and to enter a free yaw control mode based on the received aircraft parameters.

An unmanned aircraft includes a forward propulsion system comprising one or more forward thrust engines and one or more corresponding rotors coupled to the forward thrust engines; a vertical propulsion system comprising one or more vertical thrust engines and one or more corresponding rotors coupled to the vertical thrust engines; and a pitch angle and throttle control system, comprising a processor configured to receive a first pitch angle command; and generate a second pitch angle command and a forward thrust engine throttle command based on a bounded pitch angle for the aircraft.