A method for collecting acoustic data from an industrial machine is disclosed. The method may include: providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having an acoustic receiver attached thereto; and positioning the unmanned aerial vehicle at a specific location so that the acoustic receiver collects acoustic data from the industrial machine at the specific location. An acoustic receiver is attached to the UAV for collecting acoustic data from the industrial machine. An acoustic filter is attached to the acoustic receiver and the UAV for filtering unwanted sound from the acoustic data. Acoustic data can be used by a flight control system to identify a specific location relative to the industrial machine that is a source a specific acoustic signature emanating from the industrial machine.

Embodiments disclosed herein enable routine autonomous execution of at least some major phases of aerostat operation in response to commands from human or automated external operators, a built-in decision-making capacity, or both. Various embodiments combine one or more actively controlled tethers, aerodynamic aerostat control surfaces, mechanical assistive devices (e.g., jointed arms attached to a ground station), and/or active propulsors attached to the aerostat to govern aerostat behavior during launch, flight, and landing phases of operation. Some embodiments enable automatic autonomous performance of all phases of routine post-commissioning aerostat operation, including launch, flight, and landing, without any routine need for availability of a human crew.

A system for remote moisture monitoring and control includes: a measurement vehicle, including a vehicle body, a vehicle control unit, a transmitter antenna, and a receiver antenna; a moisture control server, including a processor, a non-transitory memory, an input/output, and antenna manager, a multi spectrum analyzer, a sensor manager, an irrigation manager, a soil simulator and a data bus; a vehicle storage facility; an irrigation controller; irrigation valves; a mobile control device; ground sensors. Also disclosed is a method including piloting measurement vehicle; obtaining moisture measurements, including controlling outbound transmission, determining reflected power, calculating dielectric constant via reflection calculation, determining soil moisture via lookup in soil calibration table; obtaining sensor measurements; calculating soil model; and adjusting irrigation.

In one embodiment, an unmanned aircraft comprises a housing, an inflatable fuselage, three motors, and three propellers. The housing may comprise an enclosure configured to house one or more electrical components. The inflatable fuselage may comprise a first, a second and a third spindle each extending from the housing. The first motor may be coupled to a first propeller and mounted to the first spindle. The second motor may be coupled to a second propeller and mounted to the second spindle. The third motor may be coupled to a third propeller and mounted to the third spindle.

Autonomous craft capable of extended duration operations as lighter-than-air craft, having the ability to alight on the surface of a body of water and generate hydrogen gas for lift via electrolysis using power derived from a photovoltaic system, as well as methods of launching an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a deployable envelope from a surface of a body of water.

A portable launch rig (PLR) may include a support structure including two side supports defining an interior space for lifting and filling a balloon envelope of a balloon. Wheels on each of the side supports enable the PLR to be moved in various directions in order to prepare the PLR for launching the balloon. The side supports are connected by a lateral support beam having a pair of cranes arranged thereon. Each crane has an arm arranged over the interior space that is connected to a spreader beam. The spreader beam includes a lift assembly configured to lift and inflate the balloon envelope within the interior space. The PLR includes a platform and perch for supporting and moving the balloon envelope. A door assembly of the PLR includes a plurality of hangar doors configured to block wind from a respective direction of each hangar door entering the interior space.

The present invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) such as a rotorcraft and a method of improving the performance thereof. The UAV is equipped with an inflated bag to prevent or alleviate property damage and personal injury caused by a collision between the UAV and a foreign object (e.g. a human being and a pet). The inflated bag in the proximity of a propeller's tip can also disrupt the tip vortex of the propeller generated in UAV operation state. The invention exhibits numerous technical merits such as enhanced operational safety, UAV drag reduction, higher propulsive efficiency, and reduction of UAV vibration level, among others.

A lighter-than-air airship has an exoskeleton constructed of spokes and hubs to create a set of connected hexagrams comprised of isosceles triangles wherein the spokes flex and vary in length to produce the slope of said airship's surface. In one embodiment, the exoskeleton connects to a nose cone that includes a cockpit cabin for controlling the airship's operation from a single location that can be physically separated from the exoskeleton in response to catastrophic events and for autonomous and/or remotely piloted operation. An improved means is also provided for landing and unloading cargo, and through use of unmanned aerial vehicles in another embodiment, the airship is configured for remote pickup, transport, delivery and return of payloads such as packages. In yet another embodiment, the airship provides a communications platform for beam form transmission and satellite signal relay, including in combination with the foregoing disclosed attributes.

The present invention relates to an aerospace vehicle comprising an airplane or spacecraft, operatively coupled to an airship balloon containing lighter than air gas adapted to elevate the vehicle. A control system adapted to deflate the balloon upon reaching a predetermined altitude by directing the gas for powering the vehicle at greater speed. The balloon can be re-inflated for decreasing the speed of the vehicle upon reaching a destination and deflated in a controlled manner for landing the vehicle or disengaged from the vehicle upon transferring the gas from the balloon to a propulsion system of the vehicle.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to flight termination systems for tethered aerial vehicles having envelopes. For instance, a flight termination system may include a wire heating element arranged in a loop around the balloon envelope and connected to a strain relief connector, the strain relief connector, and an electrical cable connected to the strain relief connector. The electrical cable is configured to provide current to the wire in order to melt envelope material of the envelope and terminate a flight of the aerial vehicle.