The present disclosure provides a spread spectrum landing system with a low probability of intercept altimeter that is in communication with a plurality of asymmetrically placed antennas or transponders near a landing area. The low probability of intercept altimeter acts as a secondary system in the event that a primary landing system for the mobile platform is denied or otherwise inoperable. The low probability of intercept altimeter cycles through unique pseudo noise (PN) codes to determine a line of sight relative to each antenna or transponder. A single algorithm or process determines and ranges the platform relative to the transponders to effectuate the landing of the platform.

The present disclosure is directed to autonomous control systems and methods for navigating an aircraft relative to a movable object. The autonomous control system may comprise: a first one or more sensors to track the movable object in a local coordinate frame; a second one or more sensors to track the aircraft in the local coordinate frame; and a flight control system having a processor that is operatively coupled with the first one or more sensors and the second one or more sensors, the flight control system configured to provide pitch, roll, and yaw commands to the aircraft. The processor may be configured to identify a perch point at a predetermined distance relative to the movable object in the local coordinate frame. The perch point may be fixed relative to the movable object. The processor may be configured to navigate, via the flight control system, the aircraft to the perch point as a function of the speed, the position, or the heading of the movable object.

The present invention relates to an aerial vehicle landing method, an aerial vehicle, and a computer readable storage medium. The present invention has no requirement on a motion form of a dynamic target and whether a measurement device is equipped, and does not require that a feature image of a target is obtained in advance either. Instead, motion information of a target is obtained by means of desirable tracking real-timeness of an on-board image device. Therefore, it is ensured that the aerial vehicle can reach a location near the target, and this process allows the dynamic target to have a complex motion form. Desirable tracking real-timeness allows an aerial vehicle to change a target at any flight time point, and continuous tracking and precise landing can be achieved.

A device to determine integrity of a surface includes an exterior housing to contain and protect a plurality of components. The components include an accelerometer to measure a change in acceleration of the device, a microcontroller to monitor measurement data from the accelerometer and determine the integrity of the surface based on the measurement data. A communication circuit transmits or displays information regarding the integrity of the surface from microcontroller. A battery powers the plurality of components.

An operating system for a working machine includes drones having GNSS receivers, and working machines having take-off and landing ports and is configured so that positional information on the working machines is acquired by the GNSS receivers of the drones to be placed on the take-off and landing ports.

Systems, apparatuses and methods for landing an unmanned aircraft on a mobile structure are presented. Sensors on the aircraft identify a predetermined landing area on a mobile structure. The aircraft monitors the sensor data to maintain its position hovering over the landing area. The aircraft estimates a future attitude of the surface of the landing area and determines a landing time that corresponds to a desired attitude of the surface of the landing area. The unmanned aircraft executes a landing maneuver to bring the aircraft into contact with the surface of the landing area at the determined landing time.

A drone coordination device includes an acquisitor which acquires an action plan from an automated vehicle and a determinator which determines a flight plan of a drone including a section in which the drone will be mounted on the automated vehicle on the basis of the action plan acquired by the acquisitor.

A device comprising a radar for taking at least one radar image of the terrain in front of the aircraft in a zone containing at least one characteristic pattern, the position of the characteristic pattern being known, an image processing unit for detecting, on the radar image taken by the radar, a characteristic symbol representing the characteristic pattern, a computation unit for determining, from at least the position of the characteristic symbol in the image and from characteristics of the radar image acquisition, relative position information illustrating the position of the aircraft in relation to the characteristic pattern, and for determining the position of the aircraft, from the relative position information and from the known position of the characteristic pattern, and a unit for transmitting at least the position of the aircraft to at least one user system, for example a landing aiding system or an SVS display.

A method for controlling palm landing of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes detecting a flight status of the UAV under a predetermined condition. The method also includes controlling the UAV to land on a palm of a user when the flight status is a hover state and when the palm is located under the UAV.

A method (100) of landing an unmanned aerial vehicle (101) on another vehicle (103), the method including: determining (110) the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle; determining (120) the velocity of the other vehicle; and adjusting (130) the velocity of at least one of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the other vehicle to ensure that the difference between the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the velocity of the other vehicle is greater than a predetermined amount as the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the other vehicle.