An aircraft is provided including an airframe, an extending tail, and a counter rotating, coaxial main rotor assembly including an upper rotor assembly with an upper blade and a lower rotor assembly with a lower blade. A first antenna in one of upper blade and the lower blade, and a second antenna in the other of the upper blade and the lower blade. An oscillator to apply an excitation signal to the first antenna. A blade proximity monitor to monitor a magnitude of the excitation signal and an output signal from the second antenna to determine a distance between the upper blade and the lower blade.

This flight control device 10 comprises a route information acquisition unit 11, a position identification unit 12, an environmental information acquisition unit 13, and a flight control unit 14. The route information acquisition unit 11 acquires route information related to a route of an unmanned aerial vehicle that has been set in advance. The position identification unit 12 acquires positional information for identifying the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, and identifies the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 based on the acquired positional information. The environmental information acquisition unit 13 acquires environmental information of a farm field 30 from a detection device 40. The flight control unit 14 controls flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 based on the route information acquired by the route information acquisition unit 11, the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 identified by the position identification unit 12, and the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit 13.

An assembly for reducing a pendulum effect of a package suspended from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The assembly includes a curved rail having a first rail connection and a second rail connection, the first rail connection and the second rail connection rotationally coupling the curved rail to a body of the UAV. The assembly includes a trolley assembly moveably coupled to the curved rail, the trolley assembly comprising a housing having a first trolley with four wheels and a second trolley with four wheels. The assembly includes a tether coupled to the housing of the trolley assembly, the tether configured to couple to the package. The assembly allows movement of the package in three-axes with respect to the UAV.

A system for taking into account micro wind conditions in a region. The system comprises a plurality of aerial vehicles within the region and a wind speed calculator. Each of the plurality of aerial vehicles has an altitude sensor and a GPS receiver. The wind speed calculator is configured to determine wind vectors within the region using measurements from the plurality of aerial vehicles.

Systems and aircraft are provided. An avionics system includes a storage device and one or more data processors. The storage device stores instructions for monitoring an actual performance of the aircraft. The one or more data processors are configured to execute the instructions to: determine a first measured value of a flight characteristic of the aircraft at a first position of the aircraft; execute at least one flight maneuver between the first position and a second position of the aircraft; generate a predicted energy change between the first position and the second position based on the at least one flight maneuver and an energy state model; determine a second measured value of the flight characteristic of the aircraft at the second position; and generate an adjustment to the energy state model based on the first measured value, the second measured value, and the predicted energy change.

Systems, aircraft, and non-transitory media are provided. An avionics system for an aircraft includes a storage device and one or more data processors. The storage device stores instructions for monitoring an actual performance of the aircraft. The one or more data processors are configured to execute the instructions to: generate a lateral component and a longitudinal component of a measured moving air mass relative to the aircraft; generate a plurality of wind independent positions of the aircraft along a potential aircraft trajectory based on a prediction model; and generate a plurality of wind corrected positions of the aircraft based on the plurality of wind independent positions, on the lateral component, and on the longitudinal component.

Systems, methods, aircraft, non-transitory media, and memories are provided. An avionics system for an aircraft includes a storage device and one or more data processors. The storage device stores instructions for converting between airspeed types and the one or more data processors is configured to execute the instructions to: generate a calibrated airspeed of the aircraft; convert the calibrated airspeed to an actual true airspeed of the aircraft; determine an initial approximate relationship between the calibrated airspeed and a computed true airspeed as a function of a pressure altitude of the aircraft; generate an adjusted approximate relationship based on the actual true airspeed and the initial approximate relationship at a chosen pressure altitude; and estimate a future airspeed of the aircraft based on the adjusted approximate relationship and a future altitude.

A system to maintain a phase difference is disclosed. Two or more aircraft fly in a continuous periodic trajectory. The system maintains a phase difference between the two or more aircraft. Telemetry information for a reference aircraft moving in a first periodic trajectory is received. A phase difference between a primary aircraft and the reference aircraft with respect to the first periodic trajectory is determined. A variance in the phase difference between the primary aircraft and the reference aircraft from the target phase difference is determined. A new trajectory for the primary aircraft that decreases the variance in the phase difference with respect to the new periodic trajectory is determined, and the primary aircraft is maneuvered to follow the new trajectory.

An aerial vehicle control system includes an aerial vehicle and a computing device. The aerial vehicle includes an altitude controller and a lateral propulsion controller The computing device includes a processor and a memory. The memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to obtain location data corresponding to a location of the aerial vehicle; obtain wind data; determine an altitude command, a latitude command, and a longitude command based on at least one of the location data or the wind data; cause the altitude controller to implement at least one of the altitude command, the latitude command, or the longitude command; and cause the lateral propulsion controller to implement at least one of the altitude command, the latitude command, or the longitude command.

Embodiments are disclosed for a machine and process that include a computer code specially programmed for creating a runway extension speed for an aircraft taking off. The process may include sensing current location, current acceleration, and current speed, for the aircraft during takeoff roll; receiving, in a ROTTOWIRE, the current speed and the current acceleration for the aircraft; creating in the ROTTOWIRE an actual speed profile; creating, using a specially coded program in the ROTTOWIRE and the current acceleration, the runway extension speed via determining, for a current location of the aircraft, a distance from a departure end of the runway and a terminating distance required to terminate the takeoff to a stop of the aircraft on the runway, a distance until the aircraft reaches a designated height; and when the terminating distance equals the distance from the departure end of the runway; and presenting the runway extension speed.