Described herein are systems and methods for structure scan using an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some methods include accessing a three-dimensional map of a structure; generating facets based on the three-dimensional map, wherein the facets are respectively a polygon on a plane in three-dimensional space that is fit to a subset of the points in the three-dimensional map; generating a scan plan based on the facets, wherein the scan plan includes a sequence of poses for an unmanned aerial vehicle to assume to enable capture, using image sensors of the unmanned aerial vehicle, of images of the structure; causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly to assume a pose corresponding to one of the sequence of poses of the scan plan; and capturing one or more images of the structure from the pose.

The present disclosure provides a UAV control method. The method includes controlling an antenna device of a microwave radar of the UAV to transmit a microwave transmission signal and obtain a received signal, the microwave transmission signal and the received signal both being trapezoidal modulation waveforms, and one cycle of the trapezoidal modulation waveform including a frequency rising part, a frequency falling part, and a fixed frequency part; obtaining an intermediate frequency signal mixed by a frequency of the microwave transmission signal and the received signal to the radar controller, and determining whether the received signal is an interference signal based on the intermediate frequency signal; determining coordinate information of a detection target corresponding to the received signal if the received signal is not the interference signal; and updating a trajectory of the UAV based on the coordinate information of the detection target.

An aerial vehicle includes a liquid chemical tank, at least one spray unit, a plurality of sensors, a processing unit, and an output unit. The processing unit is configured to generate a spray record for an environment within which the aerial vehicle is operating, the spray record comprising: information over a time period of at least one spray condition relating to one or more of the at least one spray unit for the aerial vehicle operating within the environment over the time period, the determined air movement direction relative to the projection of the fore-aft axis onto the ground over the time period, and the determined air movement speed relative to the ground over the time period. The output unit is configured to output the spray record.

Methods and systems are provided for responding to an attacker including a shooter who opens fire at a site where people are gathered, including identifying, neutralizing, and restraining the attacker. A system may include a central control unit configured to perform a series of steps including: receiving an image including the origin of the gunfire and responsively acquiring identifying features of a shooter associated with the gunfire; subsequently tracking a current location of the shooter according to the identifying features; releasing an autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to engage the shooter; guiding the flight of the UAV towards the current location of the shooter; and neutralizing the shooter by operating a shooter incapacitating mechanism of the UAV.

A method according to certain embodiments generally involves operating a system including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a base station. The base station includes a nest including an upper opening having an upper opening diameter and a lower opening having a lower opening diameter less than the upper opening diameter. The lower opening is accessible from within the base station. The method generally includes landing the UAV within the nest such that a portion of the UAV is accessible via the lower opening, releasably attaching a load to the UAV, and operating the UAV to deliver the load to a destination.

An information processing apparatus includes a communication interface configured to communicate with a first unmanned aircraft having a first camera to be used for detecting an obstacle and a second unmanned aircraft having a second camera to be used for detecting an obstacle with higher detection accuracy than the first camera, and a controller configured to, in a case in which a predetermined event relating to the first unmanned aircraft has occurred, detect, using the second unmanned aircraft, an obstacle at a target point on a flight path along which the first unmanned aircraft travels to a destination, and control the first unmanned aircraft to navigate around the detected obstacle using information regarding the detected obstacle.

Collision avoidance is an important issue for unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs). As such, UAVs can be outfitted with a simple and inexpensive sensor for use in collision avoidance. The sensor can be attached to a gimbal and can include a RADAR transmit antenna, a RADAR receive antenna, and an optical camera. The RADAR transmit antenna and RADAR receive antenna are part of a RADAR system. The optical camera and the RADAR system are bore sighted to one another by aligning their fields of view. The optical camera captures an image of a target when the RADAR system indicates the target is in the field of view. The RADAR system and image data can be used to determine a target trajectory. The target trajectory can be used to avoid a collision with the target.

A number of illustrative variations may include the steps of providing a first vehicle including at least one sensor, a controller configured to process sensor data, and a vehicle communication system; providing a driving surface having an actual coefficient of friction; determining at least one estimated driving surface coefficient of friction; communicating the at least one estimated driving surface coefficient from the first vehicle to the vehicle communication system; and communicating the at least one estimated driving surface coefficient from the vehicle communication system to at least one other vehicle directly or indirectly.

A vehicle and method of control comprising generating a geometric control envelope in a geometric space of operation points defined by a number of control aspects, the envelope having vertices representing maximum values of the control aspects, and determining a desired operation point in the geometric space representing a control input. Further, the method includes if the desired operation point is outside the envelope, scaling up a first one of the control aspects by a first factor, determining an effective operation point in the envelope geometrically closest to the desired operation point, scaling down all of the control aspects by a second factor inverse of the first factor, and instructing the propulsion mechanisms to propel the vehicle according to the effective operation point.

A vertical takeoff and landing vehicle which includes an allocation block that receives a set of desired forces or desired moments and a health metric associated with at least one of: (1) a motor controller or (2) a rotor that operates in a vertical takeoff and landing mode at least some of the time. A command signal is determined per a first manner that attempts to satisfy both the set of desired forces or desired moments and the health metric. If the command signal is unable to be determined in the first manner, a second manner is used that prioritizes flight control associated with one or more of a roll axis or a pitch axis over flight control associated with a yaw axis where the axes are mutually orthogonal. The command signal is output to the motor controller that controls the rotor using the command signal.