The present invention is applicable to the technical field of aerial photography. Disclosed are a panoramic photographing apparatus, a panoramic photographing system, a photographing method, and an aircraft. The photographing apparatus comprises a support connected to an aircraft body and a photographing module mounted on the support. The photographing module comprises a first photographing module and a second photographing module arranged in a first direction and a second direction. The first direction is opposite to the second direction. A line of sight corresponding to a maximum angle of view of the first photographing module intersects a line of sight corresponding to a maximum angle of view of the second photographing module. The photographing method uses the photographing apparatus. The aircraft comprises the photographing apparatus. The panoramic photographing system comprises the remote terminal and the photographing apparatus/aircraft. In the panoramic photographing apparatus, the panoramic photographing system, the photographing method, and the aircraft provided by the present invention, the aircraft body and the photographing apparatus are completely hidden during capturing of a panoramic photo or a panoramic video, thereby ensuring a good panoramic photographing effect, and facilitating subsequent image processing.

Disclosed is a docking station for use with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The docking station has a retractable guide apparatus having a retracted state in which the retractable guide apparatus is retracted within the docking station and an expanded state in which the retractable guide is expanded outward from the docking station for physically guiding the UAV into the docking station. Given that the guide apparatus is retractable, the retractable guide apparatus is provided with some protection from environmental factors such as exposure to ice, snow and high winds. This can help to increase durability and reliability, such that the UAV can reliably land in the docking station without any personnel being present. Deployment is also possible without any personnel being present. Therefore, it is possible to avoid or mitigate the costs associated with personnel.

A passive guidance mechanism enables smooth guiding to a desired position; and a flying object landing system enables smooth guiding to and landing at a desired position. A pair of guide rails are arranged side by side with a space therebetween, and are provided so that the space increases toward one set of tips of the guide rails. One guide rail is supported so as to be rotatable about a first shaft extending in a direction perpendicular to a plane including the guide rails, at or near the tip of the guide rail. The other guide rail is supported so as to be rotatable about a second shaft extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane including the guide rails, at or near the tip of the guide rail.

A multicopter includes: a support; rotors supported by the support; an electrical equipment that supplies power for rotationally driving the rotors; a circuitly that controls a flight of an airframe by individually adjusting a rotor speed of each of the rotors; and a cooling unit that cools the electrical equipment. The cooling unit includes a heat exchanger, a refrigerant circulating through the heat exchanger and the electrical equipment, and a pump that circulates the refrigerant.

Unmanned aerial vehicles including wing capture devices and related methods are disclosed. An example unmanned aerial vehicle includes a fuselage and a wing assembly, the wing assembly including a shoulder coupled to the fuselage, the shoulder including a joint, the joint distal to the fuselage, a wing coupled to the joint, and a hook, the hook coupled to the shoulder, the hook including a groove to receive a cable to arrest flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Presented herein are embodiments of signal detection and location finding directed to a “Signature Detector and Direction Finder” (SDDF) add-on module. The SDDF is an add-on module to any Signal Detection System (SDS) that detects, locates, and/or tracks any type(s) of Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Even though the presented embodiments can be used with any RF signal type, the preferred targets are Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones, and their controllers. A goal of the SDDF add-on module is to recognize the reported signal of interest and identify its direction. The machine-learning feature enables the system (i.e. SDDF add-on module with SDS) to be deployable in various environments with flexibility in choosing the antenna type(s). The Signature Detector component of the SDDF add-on module uniquely filters drone/controller signals, hence, more accurate direction estimation of the detected signal by SDDF add-on module.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for identifying, tracking, and disrupting UAVs are described herein. A tracking system can receive sensor data associated with an object in a particular airspace from one or more radio frequency sensors. The tracking system can analyze the sensor data relating to the object to identify a type of RF signal being used by the object. A portable countermeasure device can generate one or more disruption signals on one or more targeted bands of spectrum based on the type of RF signal being used by the object.

A delivery system and a method of delivering articles are provided. The system has a secure box having a planar top wall and a cylindrical sidewall, and a reclosable opening in the top wall, at least one reclosable opening in the sidewall. The system is configured to open the top wall opening for receiving an article into the secure box and for closing and locking the top wall opening, upon the article being received in the secure box. A round conveyor having at least two partitions and is configured and disposed to hold the article and to rotate and dispose the article proximate the sidewall opening for a recipient of the article.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a flexible holder retaining a plurality of probes. The flexible holder is deformable to arrange the probes around a portion of a structure, allowing the probes to scan the portion of the structure. At least one of the plurality of probes is an ultrasonic test (UT) probe to scan the portion of the structure with ultrasonic waves.

An access management system includes a mobile device with a processor and a memory and a software platform including at least a processor and a memory. The software platform is configured to analyze data obtained from the mobile device and other devices connected to the software platform. Specifically, the software platform is operable to determine if an access key received, read, or captured by a mobile device matches an access key for an authorized account, object, device, or space for the mobile device, and to provide access to the mobile device if the access key received, read, or captured by the mobile device matches the authorized access key.