An aircraft has a fuselage, an engine disposed within the fuselage, a rotatable wing disposed above the fuselage and selectively rotatable about a wing rotation axis, and a plurality of interconnect driveshafts disposed within the rotatable wing, and at least one drive system component that is connected between the engine and the interconnect driveshaft is disposed along the wing rotation axis.

The present invention discloses a multi-shaft power source unmanned flight equipment, and belongs to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles. The multi-shaft power source unmanned flight equipment comprises a frame (1), a plurality of rotor sets (2) and a power device (3). The plurality of rotor sets (2) are rotatably fixed on the frame (1), and the power device (3) is correspondingly movably connected with each rotor set (2) respectively. Power is provided for flight of the unmanned flight equipment by the power device (3) with oil drive characteristics, mechanical kinetic energy is generated by burning a combustion material pre-injected in the power device (3), and rotors (21) in each rotor set (2) correspondingly connected with the power device are driven to rotate, thereby replacing the traditional electric multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle structure adopting electric modes such as batteries, electronic speed controllers and the like to supply power and provide power for the rotation of the rotors (21); and the unmanned flight equipment has the characteristics of long duration and strong loading capacity.

A control device that includes a sensing unit that detects, from an image captured by a camera mounted in a drone, a guide light to be used for forming a corridor used by the drone, and identifies a position of the detected guide light, a calculation unit that calculates, according to positions of the drone and the guide light, a predicted arrival position of the drone and a control target position according to a positional relationship between the drone and the guide light at a control timing subsequent to a timing of capturing the image, a control condition generation unit that generates a control condition for a motor that drives a propeller of the drone according to the predicted arrival position and the control target position, and a control condition setting unit that sets the control condition for the motors of the drone.

A control device that includes a sensing unit that detects, from an image captured by a camera mounted in a drone, a guide light to be used for forming a corridor used by the drone, and identifies a position of the detected guide light, a calculation unit that calculates, according to positions of the drone and the guide light, a predicted arrival position of the drone and a control target position according to a positional relationship between the drone and the guide light at a control timing subsequent to a timing of capturing the image, a control condition generation unit that generates a control condition for a motor that drives a propeller of the drone according to the predicted arrival position and the control target position, and a control condition setting unit that sets the control condition for the motors of the drone.

A flapping wing driving apparatus includes at least one crank gear capstan rotatably coupled to a crank gear, the at least one crank gear capstan disposed radially offset from a center of rotation of the crank gear; a first wing capstan coupled to a first wing, the first wing capstan having a first variable-radius drive pulley portion; and a first drive linking member configured to drive the first wing capstan, the first drive linking member windably coupled between the first variable-radius drive pulley portion and one of the at least one crank gear capstan; wherein the first wing capstan is configured to non-constantly, angularly rotate responsive to a constant angular rotation of the crank gear.

A method, system, and/or computer program product pre-positions an aerial drone for a user. A model of a user is used as a basis for predicting a future task to be performed by the user at a future time and at a particular location. One or more processors identify sensor data that will be required by the user in order to perform the future task at the future time and at the particular location, where the sensor data is generated by one or more sensors on the aerial drone. A transmitter then transmits a signal to the aerial drone to pre-position the aerial drone at the particular location before the future time.

Heavier-than-air, aircraft having flapping wings, e.g., ornithopters, where angular orientation control is effected by variable differential sweep angles of deflection of the flappable wings in the course of sweep angles of travel and/or the control of variable wing membrane tension.

Multiple motors may drive (rotate) a single shaft coupled to a propeller. The motors may be selected such that a first motor is capable of rotating the drive shaft in an event of a failure of a second motor coupled to the drive shaft. A one-way clutch bearing, or similar device, may interface between a motor and the drive shaft to enable free rotation of the drive shaft in an event of the motor becoming inoperable, such as the motor freezing or locking in a position due to failure caused by overheating or caused by other conditions or events. Use of the second motor may secure a position of the drive shaft which may support the propeller in radial eccentric loading.

A flapping wing driving apparatus includes at least one crank gear capstan rotatably coupled to a crank gear, the at least one crank gear capstan disposed radially offset from a center of rotation of the crank gear; a first wing capstan coupled to a first wing, the first wing capstan having a first variable-radius drive pulley portion; and a first drive linking member configured to drive the first wing capstan, the first drive linking member windably coupled between the first variable-radius drive pulley portion and one of the at least one crank gear capstan; wherein the first wing capstan is configured to non-constantly, angularly rotate responsive to a constant angular rotation of the crank gear.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may emit masking sounds during operation of the UAV to mask other sounds generated by the UAV during operation. The UAV may be used to deliver items to a residence or other location associated with a customer. The UAV may emit sounds that mask the conventional sounds generated by the propellers and/or motors to cause the UAV to emit sounds that are pleasing to bystanders or do not annoy the bystanders. The UAV may emit sounds using speakers or other sound generating devices, such as fins, reeds, whistles, or other devices which may cause sound to be emitted from the UAV. Noise canceling algorithms may be used to cancel at least some of the conventional noise generated by operation of the UAV using inverted sounds, while additional sound may be emitted by the UAV, which may not be subject to noise cancelation.