Systems, devices, and methods that may include: determining one or more take-off variables for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial vehicle; increasing an altitude of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a first altitude, where increasing the altitude comprises substantially vertical flight of the VTOL aerial vehicle; performing a first pre-rotation check of the VTOL aerial vehicle; adjusting a pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a first pitch angle via motor control; adjusting the pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a second pitch angle via at least one of: motor control and one or more effectors; and adjusting the pitch of the VTOL aerial vehicle to a third pitch angle via the one or more effectors, where the third pitch angle is substantially perpendicular to a vertical plane.

A flight aiding method for an unmanned aerial vehicle includes receiving a receiving, from a mobile terminal that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle, a flight aiding instruction to execute a flight aiding function. The flight aiding method further includes in response to receiving the flight aiding instruction, controlling, regardless of a head direction that a head of the unmanned aerial vehicle is pointing, the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly by controlling both a velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle along a reference direction and a velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle perpendicular to the reference direction. The reference direction is defined for the unmanned aerial vehicle based on a position of a point of interest and a current location of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

A method may include determining a location of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); generating a set of mission plans based on the location of the UAV, each mission plan including respective mission plan parameters; receiving a selection of a mission plan of the set of mission plans; obtaining mission plan parameters for the selected mission plan; and transmitting the obtained mission plan parameters to the UAV to configure the UAV according to the obtained mission parameters.

An autonomous vehicle system includes a body and a plurality of sensors coupled to the body and configured to generate a plurality of sensor measurements corresponding to the plurality of sensors. The system also includes a control unit configured to: receive inputs from a plurality of sources wherein the plurality sources comprise the plurality of sensors, the inputs comprise the plurality of sensor measurements; determine a confidence level of each input based on other inputs; prioritize, based on the confidence level associated with each input, the inputs; generate, based on the prioritization of the inputs and the confidence level, a combined input with a combined confidence level; and determine, based on the combined input and the combined confidence level, a mission task to be performed.

A control method of an air vehicle for urban air mobility (UAM) is provided. The method enable people to more easily control an air vehicle for UAM, and moves in a flight manner familiar to people during flight to allow a driver and passengers comfortably use the air vehicle without discomfort such as motion sickness, dizziness, etc. The control method includes acquiring air vehicle driving information; adjusting an altitude of the air vehicle to a target altitude; adjusting longitudinal acceleration and longitudinal deceleration of the air vehicle; and operating steering during flight of the air vehicle.

A landing system suitable for receiving an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprises an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). A landing surface is disposed on the AGV, and the landing system comprises a loading channel suitable for passing an object delivered by the UAV through a first loading channel opening in the landing surface. The object passes within the loading channel through to a second loading channel opening at a bottom aspect of the AGV. In this way, a UAV can land on the landing surface, and the AGV positions the object in line with a target delivery location, where the object is delivered. Aspects of the landing system comprise an electromagnet or vacuum chamber for securing the UAV to the landing surface, thereby enhancing stability of the UAV during movement of the landing system.

Methods for performing maintenance operations using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The methods are enabled by equipping a UAV with a maintenance tool capable of performing a desired maintenance operation (e.g., nondestructive inspection) on a limited-access surface of a large structure or object (e.g., a wind turbine blade). The UAV uses re-orientation of lifting means (e.g., vertical rotors) to move the maintenance tool continuously or intermittently across the surface of the structure while maintaining contact with the surface of the structure undergoing maintenance.

A method for tracking includes obtaining an infrared image and a visible image from an imaging device supported by a carrier of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), combining the infrared image and the visible image to obtain a combined image, identifying a target in the combined image, and controlling at least one of the UAV, the carrier, or the imaging device to track the identified target. Combing the infrared image and the visible image includes matching the infrared image and the visible image based on matching results of different matching methods.

Systems, devices, and methods including at least one flight control computer (FCC) associated with at least one UAV, where the at least one FCC is configured to: determine a direction of travel of the at least one UAV relative to the Sun; adjust a UAV airspeed to a first airspeed if the determined direction of travel is towards the Sun; and adjust the UAV airspeed to a second airspeed if the determined direction of travel is away the Sun; where the first airspeed is greater than the second airspeed to maximize solar capture of a solar array covering at least a portion of the UAV.

An aircraft comprises a fuselage, one or more support structures connected to the fuselage, one or more engines or motors disposed within or attached to the one or more support structures or the fuselage, and a distributed propulsion system. The distributed propulsion system comprising two or more propellers symmetrically distributed in an array along the one or more support structures with respect to a center of gravity of the aircraft and operably connected to the one or more engines or motors, wherein each propeller has a rotation direction within a tilted plane of rotation, and a summation of horizontal force vectors created by the tilted plane of rotation of all the propellers is substantially zero when all the propellers are creating a substantially equal thrust magnitude. Movement of the aircraft is controlled by selectively increasing or decreasing a thrust of at least one of the two or more propellers.