A positioning mechanism includes a base including a landing area and a guide member movably arranged at the landing area and configured to guide a moving object. The landing area includes a positioning portion. The guide member is configured to be in a non-operating state or an operating state relative to the base. A form of the guide member in the non-operating state is different from the form of the guide member in the operating state.

The present disclosure provides various embodiments of an aircraft retrieval system including winch-equipped retrieval assembly that is removably attachable to a rotorcraft to facilitate retrieval of a fixed-wing aircraft from wing-borne flight.

The present disclosure provides various embodiments of an aircraft retrieval system including winch-equipped retrieval assembly that is removably attachable to a rotorcraft to facilitate retrieval of a fixed-wing aircraft from wing-borne flight.

An aircraft position control system includes a feedback control unit configured to calculate a feedback manipulated variable of an aircraft by feedback control so that the aircraft heads toward a target landing point, based on at least the relative position and the relative velocity; a multi-value control unit configured to set, by referring to a switching line preliminarily provided in a manner passing through an origin of a coordinate plane whose orthogonal axes represent the relative position and the relative velocity and separating an acceleration region in which the relative velocity is to be increased and a deceleration region in which the relative velocity is to be decreased, an addition value that tends to increase the relative velocity when a coordinate point of the current relative position and the current relative velocity is located in the acceleration region to calculate a manipulated variable of the aircraft

A device for catching and launching a guided UAV, the device comprises a supporting post, a horizontal shaft mounted on the post, and a lever is mounted on the horizontal shaft and can make a full revolution around a horizontal axis within a vertical plane, the lever is equipped with an engagement/disengagement device a means for interaction with the UAV catching device and an optical member, preferably arranged on the lever, for determining a location of the lever interaction means by an optical guidance system of the UAV. The lever comprises two coaxial portions, one is the engagement/disengagement device, and the second is a bar, wherein one end of the bar is coupled to the horizontal shaft, while another end thereof is connected to the engagement/disengagement device. The bar and the engagement/disengagement device are connected by a hinge that enables their fixation in a coaxial state and allows offset the axis of the engagement/disengagement device relative to the axis of the bar within a rotation plane of the lever. The horizontal shaft is equipped with a means for accumulating and/or dissipating the kinetic energy of the UAV, the lever is fixed on the shaft and can provide an elastic offset of the interaction means of the engagement/disengagement device within a plane perpendicular to the rotation plane of the lever, the interaction means configured to provide mutual locking/unlocking with the UAV catching device.

One variation of a tram system includes: a chassis; a latch configured to selectively engage a latch receiver mounted to an aircraft; an alignment feature adjacent the latch and configured to engage an alignment receiver mounted to the aircraft and to communicate acceleration and braking forces from the chassis into the aircraft; an optical sensor facing upwardly from the chassis; a drivetrain configured to accelerate and decelerate the chassis along a runway; and a controller configured to detect an optical fiducial arranged on the aircraft in optical images recorded by the optical sensor adjust a speed of the drivetrain to longitudinally align the alignment feature with the alignment receiver based on positions of the optical fiducial detected in the optical images, trigger the latch to engage the latch receiver once the aircraft has descended onto the chassis, and trigger the drivetrain to actively decelerate the chassis during a landing routine.

Systems and methods for capturing unmanned aircraft and controlling post-recovery motion of the aircraft are disclosed herein. An aircraft system in accordance with one embodiment of the technology, for example, includes a base assembly and an aircraft capture member attached to and extending from the base assembly. The aircraft capture member has a distal region positioned to intercept an unmanned aircraft in flight. The aircraft capture member comprises an elongated telescoping rod including a plurality of discrete segments having a telescoping arrangement relative to each other. The aircraft capture member is configured to elongate or pay out from a first initial length to a second extended length greater than the first length after an unmanned aircraft intercepts and engages the distal region of the aircraft capture member.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a rotorcraft-assisted system and method for launching and retrieving a fixed-wing aircraft into and from free flight. The launch and retrieval system includes a modular multicopter, a storage and launch system, an anchor system, a flexible capture member, and an aircraft-landing structure. The multicopter is attachable to the fixed-wing aircraft to facilitate launching the fixed-wing aircraft into free, wing-borne flight. The storage and launch system is usable to store the multicopter (when disassembled) and to act as a launch mount for the fixed-wing aircraft by retaining the fixed-wing aircraft in a desired launch orientation. The anchor system is usable with the multicopter, the flexible capture member, and the aircraft-landing structure to retrieve the fixed-wing aircraft from free, wing-borne flight.

The present invention discloses an integrated airport design. The runways are designed in an elevated curved shape. The middles of landing runways and take-off runways are designed as an overhead parking apron, and the terminal building is below the runways. Therefore, the usable area of the whole airport is increased. The length of each elevated curved runway is lengthened comparing to the traditional straight runway within the same area. In addition, the downhill take-off runway can enhance take-off operation and reduce the fuel consumption. Thus, the existing land resources can be used to the maximum extent.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) storage and launch system, including: a UAV pod having an interior; and a telescoping UAV landing surface disposed in the interior of the UAV pod; where the telescoping UAV landing surface may translate up toward a top opening of the UAV pod, translate down into an interior of the UAV pod, or rotate relative to the UAV pod.