A distributed control system with supplemental attitude adjustment including an aircraft control having an engaged state and a disengaged state. The system also including a plurality of flight components and a plurality of aircraft components communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein each aircraft component is configured to receive an aircraft command and generate a response command directing the flight components as a function of supplemental attitude. The supplemental attitude based at least in part on the engagement datum and generating a supplemental attitude includes choosing a position supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is disengaged and choosing a velocity supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is engaged. In generating the response command, the aircraft attitude is combined with the supplemental attitude to obtain an aggregate attitude, and the aircraft component is configured to generate the response command based on the aggregate attitude.

A distributed control system with supplemental attitude adjustment including an aircraft control having an engaged state and a disengaged state. The system also including a plurality of flight components and a plurality of aircraft components communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein each aircraft component is configured to receive an aircraft command and generate a response command directing the flight components as a function of supplemental attitude. The supplemental attitude based at least in part on the engagement datum and generating a supplemental attitude includes choosing a position supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is disengaged and choosing a velocity supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is engaged. In generating the response command, the aircraft attitude is combined with the supplemental attitude to obtain an aggregate attitude, and the aircraft component is configured to generate the response command based on the aggregate attitude.

An aircraft includes at least one sensor, an altitude actuator, a memory device, and an electronic controller. The at least one sensor is configured to detect altitude of the aircraft, current position of the aircraft and speed of the aircraft. The altitude actuator is configured to change the altitude of the aircraft. The memory device is configured to store predetermined terrain data of an area. The electronic controller is configured to estimate a future position of the aircraft based on a detected current position of the aircraft and a detected speed of the aircraft. The electronic controller is further configured to control the altitude actuator based on the future position, a detected altitude of the aircraft and the predetermined terrain data.

An active shooter response system is disclosed. The system utilizes a system of sensors and drones which may receive data at a base station. The base station may centrally process the data from the drones and the sensors so that a coordinated attack on the active shooter can be formulated either automatically without human intervention or manually at the base station by an operator of the system.

An unmanned aerial vehicle may include: a sensor part configured to acquire inertia information or position information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and a controller. The controller is configured to estimate the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle by applying the information acquired by the sensor part to an extended Kalman filter and control movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle, based on the estimated position of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The sensor part includes: an inertia sensor configured to acquire the inertia information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a tag recognition sensor configured to recognize a tag attached to a rack and acquire absolute position information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and an image sensor attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle so as to acquire an image of the movement environment of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a vehicle body, one or more propulsion units coupled to the vehicle body and configured to effect movement of the UAV, and one or more processors coupled to the one or more propulsion units and individually or collectively configured to receive one or more sets of altitude restrictions for the UAV, receive location information indicating a current location of the UAV, determine a priority of the one or more sets of altitude restrictions by which the UAV abides based on the location information, select a set from the one or more sets of altitude restrictions based on the determined priority, and generate control signals to control the one or more propulsion units such that the UAV is operated in compliance with the selected set of altitude restrictions.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is disclosed that includes a retractable payload delivery system. The payload delivery system can lower a payload to the ground using a delivery device that secures the payload during descent and releases the payload upon reaching the ground. The location of the delivery device can be determined as it is lowered to the ground using image tracking. The UAV can include an imaging system that captures image data of the suspended delivery device and identifies image coordinates of the delivery device, and the image coordinates can then be mapped to a location. The UAV may also be configured to account for any deviations from a planned path of descent in real time to effect accurate delivery locations of released payloads.

A system for an unmanned aerial vehicle can include an altitude control system 320, which further includes a compressor assembly 400, a valve assembly 500, and an electronics control assembly 600. The compressor assembly may include a compressor housing 410 that includes a compressor inlet 402, an outlet 202, and a cavity 414 extending therethrough and joining the inlet to the outlet. A diffuser 408 may be coupled to the compressor housing. A motor housing 407 may be disposed within the central cavity at the inlet of the compressor housing, and a compressor motor 406 may be disposed within the motor housing. An impeller 412 disposed within the compressor housing may be coupled to a driveshaft 444 for rotation therewith. The valve assembly may be coupled to an opening 416 of the compressor inlet. The valve head 502 may be configured to move into and away from the inlet opening so as to change a size of the circumferential area of the inlet opening.

A method and system allowing fully autonomous automatic take-off using only images captured by cameras on the aircraft and avionics data. The system includes an image capture device on the aircraft to take a stream of images of the runway, image processing modules to estimate, on the basis of the streams of images, a preliminary current position of the aircraft on the runway and to assign a preliminary confidence index to the estimate. A data consolidation module can determine a relevant current position of the aircraft on the runway by consolidating data originating from the image processing modules with inertial data to correct the estimate of the preliminary current position and determine a relevant confidence index using a current speed of the wheels of the aircraft to refine the preliminary confidence index. A flight control computer can control and guide aircraft take-off.

A method and device for assisting initiation of a flare maneuver of an aircraft during a landing. The device includes an acquisition unit for acquiring current values of flight parameters of the aircraft, including the current height of the aircraft with respect to the ground, a computation unit for computing a first reference height and a second reference height, corresponding to a height starting from which the aircraft attains a current start of flare height while maintaining its current descent conditions over a predetermined first duration and over a predetermined second duration respectively, and an acoustic emission unit for emitting at least two sound signals in the cockpit of the aircraft, namely a first sound signal when the current height of the aircraft attains the first reference height during the descent and a second sound signal when the current height of the aircraft attains the second reference height during descent.