A drone receives an initiation signal which indicates that flight and/or navigation components of the drone are to be activated. Once activated, the drone then determines its initial position using a position-identifying radio signal. The drone then retrieves, from storage, dimensions of a drone-relative geofence. The drone can then calculate, using a processor, the drone-relative geofence having the dimensions with at least a specified floor and a specified radius. The drone adjusts the motor controller inputs to prevent the drone from exiting the calculated drone-relative geofence.

Tethered unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV) includes at least one wing fixed to a fuselage. The wing is comprised of an airfoil shaped body capable of producing lift in response to a flow of air across a major wing surface, and can include at least one flight control surface, such as an aileron. One or more buoyancy cell is disposed within the fuselage for containing a lighter than air gas to provide positive buoyancy for the TUAV when the TUAV is disposed in air. A tether attachment structure facilitates attachment of the TUAV to a tether which is secured to an attachment point for securing the TUAV to the ground when aloft. A wind-powered generator is integrated with the TUAV and configured to generate electric power in response to the flow of air across the least one wing when the TUAV is aloft.

A hand-held radio transmit controller for remotely controlling an aircraft, and a method for controlling a remote control aircraft offering ground vehicle-like control.

A framework for combining a weather risk analysis with appropriate operational rules includes a data initialization component, a rules processing component, and one or more weather risk analysis and assessment tools to evaluate a flight condition. The framework applies current, historical, predicted and forecasted weather data to the one or more operational rules governing a mission, a payload, a flight plan, a craft type, and a location of the mission for aircraft such as an unmanned aerial vehicle or remotely-piloted vehicle, and generates advisories based on the evaluation of flight conditions such as a mission compliance status, instructions for operation of unmanned aircraft, and management advisories. The flight condition advisories include either a fly advisory or a no-fly advisory, and the framework may also provide a mission prioritization and optimization system.

A framework for combining a weather risk analysis with appropriate operational rules includes a data initialization component, a rules processing component, and one or more weather risk analysis and assessment tools to evaluate a flight condition. The framework applies current, historical, predicted and forecasted weather data to the one or more operational rules governing a mission, a payload, a flight plan, a craft type, and a location of the mission for aircraft such as an unmanned aerial vehicle or remotely-piloted vehicle, and generates advisories based on the evaluation of flight conditions such as a mission compliance status, instructions for operation of unmanned aircraft, and management advisories. The flight condition advisories include either a fly advisory or a no-fly advisory, and the framework may also provide a mission prioritization and optimization system.

Disclosed is a system for drone-based recharging of a VR/AR wearable assembly. A system is disclosed comprising a wireless charging device; a wearable assembly; a light field capture VR/AR device comprising a first charging surface and a second connective surface, the first charging surface configured to be positioned on the wireless charging device, the second connective surface configured to be communicatively coupled to the wearable assembly; and a drone device including a network interface, the drone device configured to: receive notifications from the light field capture VR/AR device, the notification indicating that the light field capture VR/AR device is fully charged, remove the light field capture VR/AR device from the charging device, and attach the light field capture VR/AR device to the wearable assembly.

This disclosure discusses systems and methods related to the following example scenarios. When an aerial vehicle of an airborne wind turbine is functioning normally in motoring mode, a voltage converter may receive a nominal voltage from a power conversion system and provide the nominal voltage to the aerial vehicle. When the aerial vehicle is experiencing a fault in motoring mode, the voltage converter may receive the nominal voltage and provide a reduced fault voltage to the aerial vehicle. When the aerial vehicle is functioning normally in power-generating mode, the voltage converter may receive the nominal voltage from the aerial vehicle and provide the nominal voltage to the power conversion system. When the aerial vehicle is experiencing a fault in power-generating mode, the voltage converter may receive a reduced fault voltage from the aerial vehicle, boost the fault voltage, and provide the boosted fault voltage to the power conversion system.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for operating aerial vehicles in water-based locations. Specifically, an exemplary system may include a floating tether station and an aerial vehicle coupled to the floating tether station by a tether. The system may also include a floating landing station. In such a scenario, the aerial vehicle may be configured to land on the landing station. In an example embodiment, the system may include a plurality of floating landing stations, where each floating landing station is coupled to the floating tether station. In such a scenario, at least three landing stations may be arranged about the tether station with a 120 degree azimuth spacing between adjacent landing stations.

A method of using a bagged power generation system comprising windbags and waterbags integrated with drones and adapting drone technologies for harnessing wind and water power to produce electricity. An extremely scalable and environmentally friendly method, system, apparatus, equipment, techniques and ecosystem configured to produce renewable green energy with high productivity and efficiency.

A method includes operating an aerial vehicle in a hover-flight orientation. The aerial vehicle is connected to a tether that defines a tether sphere having a radius based on a length of the tether, and the tether is connected to a ground station. The method includes positioning the aerial vehicle at a first location that is substantially on the tether sphere. The method includes transitioning the aerial vehicle from the hover-flight orientation to a forward-flight orientation, such that the aerial vehicle moves from the tether sphere. And the method includes operating the aerial vehicle in the forward-flight orientation to ascend at an angle of ascent to a second location that is substantially on the tether sphere. The first and second locations are substantially downwind of the ground station.