Deployed drones are managed. For instance, a first drone detects whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network to determine a configuration parameter of a first message to broadcast discovery information associated with the first drone. In response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a first value for the configuration parameter. Or, in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a second value for the configuration parameter different from the first value.

A vertical take-off and landing (“VTOL”) unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) system and a method of controlling the same, wherein such method controls the stability and maneuverability of the VTOL UAV by manipulating the speeds of the propellers at each rotor. The VTOL UAV includes a body with three extending arms, wherein each of such arms is aligned and fixed at a certain angle from a central axis passing through the body. Each extending arm is equipped with a rotor with propellers. The rotors are sufficient to control the yaw of the UAV, and there is no need for coaxial rotors or an extra servo-motor in order to control the yaw of the UAV, thus reducing the cost and the weight of the UAV.

A control method includes obtaining one or more attitude parameters of a gimbal of a UAV and adjusting one or more attitude parameters of the UAV according to the one or more attitude parameters of the gimbal. The UAV includes a vehicle body, and a power system and the gimbal that are provided at the vehicle body. The power system includes a motor and a propeller and is configured to provide flight power for the UAV. The gimbal is configured to connect a photographing device to the vehicle body. Adjusting the one or more attitude parameters of the UAV includes adjusting a yaw parameter of the UAV according to the yaw parameter of the gimbal. Adjusting the yaw parameter of the UAV includes controlling the UAV to rotate in a yaw direction according to the yaw parameter of the gimbal, to cause the UAV to rotate along with the gimbal.

A bio-hybrid odor-localizing autonomous air vehicle includes an airborne robotic platform having a navigation platform, a wireless transmitter communicatively coupled to a management console, and a biological sensor mounted on the airborne robotic platform that reacts to at least one olfactory odor. A controller is communicatively coupled to the airborne robotic platform, the navigation platform, and the biological sensor. The controller monitors the biological sensor. In response to the biological sensor detecting the at least one olfactory odor, the controller directs the airborne platform to three-dimensionally map an olfactory plume of the at least one olfactory odor using an olfactory-driven search pattern. The controller stores the three-dimensional map for later retrieval or transmits the three-dimensional map of the olfactory plume to the management console via the wireless transmitter.

The present disclosure relates to a maritime communication system based on low earth orbit satellites and an unmanned aerial vehicle. The maritime communication system according to one embodiment may include one or more maritime users, one or more satellites connected to a network operator, and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for relaying communication between the maritime users and the satellites.

An agricultural method includes providing a positive air pressure chamber to prevent outside contaminants from entering the chamber; growing crops in a plurality of cells in the chamber, each cell having multi-grow benches or levels, each cell further having connectors to vertical hoists for vertical movements in the chamber; maintaining pre-set temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, watering and lighting levels to achieve predetermined plant growth; using motorized transport rails to deliver benches for operations including seeding, harvesting, grow media recovery, and bench wash; dispensing seeds in the cell with a mechanical seeder coupled to the transport rails; growing the crops with computer controlled nutrients, light and air level; and harvesting the crops and delivering the harvested crop at a selected outlet of the chamber.

The present invention discloses a data collection method, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a storage medium. The method is used for a vision chip of the UAV, the vision chip including a main operating system and a real-time operating system, and the method includes: generating, by the real-time operating system, a trigger signal; collecting, by the real-time operating system based on the trigger signal, flight control data of the UAV and controlling an image sensor to collect an image sequence; synchronizing, by the real-time operating system, a time of the main operating system with a time of the real-time operating system; and performing, by the main operating system, visual processing on the flight control data and the image sequence, to ensure that the flight control data and the image sequence are collected synchronously. By using the method, accuracy of data collected during controlling of the UAV can be improved.

A position estimation method for a tracking target is implemented in an unmanned aerial vehicle. The position estimation method include: estimating a target position of the tracking target at the next time according to an initial position of the tracking target at the current moment; determining an estimated width and an estimated height of the tracking target in an image captured by a pan-tilt-zoom camera of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the estimated target position; obtaining an actual width and an actual height of the tracking target in the image; determining a height difference between the estimated width and the estimated height and a width difference between the actual height and the actual width; and updating the target position of the tracking target at the next time according to the height difference and the width difference.

Methods and associated systems and apparatus for controlling a moveable device are disclosed herein. The moveable device includes an image-collection component and a distance-measurement component. A representative method includes generating an image corresponding to the operator and generating a first set of distance information corresponding to the operator. The method identifies a portion of the image in the generated image and then retrieves a second set of distance information from the first set of distance information based on the identified image portion corresponding to the operator. The method then identifies a gesture associated with the operator based on the second set of distance information. The method then further generates an instruction for controlling the moveable device based on the gesture.

A computer-implemented method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes identifying a set of target markers based on a plurality of images captured by an imaging device carried by the UAV. The set of target markers includes at least two or more types of target markers that are in close proximity to be detected within a same field of view of the imaging device. The method further includes determining a spatial relationship between the UAV and the set of target markers based at least in part on the plurality of images, and controlling the UAV to approach the set of target markers based at least in part on the spatial relationship while controlling the imaging device to track the set of target markers such that the set of target markers remains within the same field of view of the imaging device.