An example of an aerial vehicle includes a rudder removably connected to the aerial vehicle by a twist lock mechanism. The twist lock mechanism is biased in a locked position by an elastic member.

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a fixed wing airframe having opposed first and second wings extending from first and second sides, respectively, of a fuselage having opposed leading and trailing extremities, and a tail assembly located behind the trailing extremity. Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) thrust rotors are mounted to the airframe providing vertical lift to the aircraft, and a forward thrust rotor is mounted to the airframe for providing forward thrust to the aircraft. At least one of VTOL thrust rotors is laterally tilted with respect to the airframe for providing vertical lift and yaw control authority to the aircraft.

This disclosure relates to systems and methods for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle. Boundaries of a user-defined space may be obtained. The boundaries of the user-defined space may be fixed with respect to some reference frame. A user-defined operation associated with the user-selected space may be obtained. Position of the unmanned aerial vehicle may be tracked during an unmanned aerial flight. Responsive to the unmanned aerial vehicle entering the user-defined space, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be automatically controlled to perform the user-defined operation.

In order to reduce the weight of a hybrid propulsion system for a multi-rotor rotary-wing aircraft, the system comprises at least one inverter configured to supply power in parallel to multiple electric motors intended to drive the corresponding propellers of the system.

The present subject matter relates to systems, devices, and methods for agricultural sample collection. In one aspect, a sample collection system includes an aerial robotic platform, an arm assembly coupled to the aerial robotic platform and comprising an arm that extends away from the aerial robotic platform, and a sample collector connected to a distal end of the arm, wherein the sample collector is configured to selectively remove one or more samples of agricultural material from a plant to be analyzed.

A package delivery system uses unmanned aircraft operable to transition between thrust-borne lift in a VTOL configuration and wing-borne lift in a forward flight configuration. Each of the aircraft includes an airframe having at least one wing with a distributed thrust array coupled to the airframe. The distributed thrust array includes a plurality of propulsion assemblies configured to provide vertical thrust in the VTOL configuration and a plurality of propulsion assemblies configured to provide forward thrust in the forward flight configuration. A package delivery module is coupled to the airframe. A control system is operably associated with the distributed thrust array and the package delivery module. The control system is configured to individually control each of the propulsion assemblies and control package release operations of the package delivery module. The system includes a ground station configured to remotely communicate with the control systems of the aircraft during package delivery missions.

A drone comprises at least one propeller for generating lift and an article containment area for containing an article to be carried by the drone. The floor of the article containment area comprises a dynamic support surface for supporting the article and allowing the article to move into, out of and through the article containment area. The dynamic support surface may be a conveyor belt forming the floor of the article containment area.

Techniques, devices, and systems are described for determining and adjusting a perspective angle of a drone sensor such as a camera. A described drone system can include an aerial drone; a ground station; an actuator to adjust the drone camera's field of view; and a controller. The controller can be configured to receive an event associated with one or more spatial coordinates or zones, determine the camera's current perspective angle, determine a target perspective angle based on the event such that the target perspective angle will cause the camera to capture imagery from the one or more spatial coordinates or zones, and cause the actuator to adjust the camera from the current perspective angle to the target perspective angle.

Towed aerodynamic platforms approach the behavior of flat plate airfoils to achieve high lift-to-drag (L:D) performance when operated at low pitch angles. A lead aircraft may tow multiple platforms to form train units. Low form drag and high L:D enable solar aircraft that are more robust and faster than approaches extending wingspan rather than extending the length of the aerial train. Applications extend beyond solar aircraft and include vehicles towed along an overhead monorail system and aerial drones.

An autogyro includes an autorotation rotor and an instrument panel that includes comprising one or both of a display unit and a control unit. The instrument panel has a viewing window formed by a recess in the instrument panel located to expand a field of view for an autogyro pilot. A pilot seat is arranged in front of the instrument panel and is positioned centrally in a transverse direction of the autogyro in front of the instrument panel.