A drone includes a surrounding cage which can be disassembled from a propeller-carrying internal base. In another aspect, a drone includes at least one fastening clip which attaches arcuate external ribs to a periphery of a central and internal frame, whereafter the fastening clip can be removed for disassembly of the ribs from the frame. Yet another aspect provides a flying drone employs a fastening clip including a snap fit and a generally U-shaped body. A further embodiment has a flying drone with at least one light externally mounted adjacent a periphery of a central propeller-carrying base, located between a pair of external ribs.

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is disclosed. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle includes a body, rotors attached to the body, one or more sensors, and an electromagnetic pulse transmitter. The electromagnetic pulse transmitter is configured to transmit an EMP and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is configured to track a target Unmanned Aerial Vehicle using the one or more sensors and direct the electromagnetic pulse transmitter at the target Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to disrupt the target Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

A technique for assessing development condition of a property is provided that determines development condition for an individual property or properties of interest using image or other sensor data from one or more unmanned aerial vehicles taken over the development process. A property condition output may be generated to indicate a condition of the property or properties.

Disclosed in this specification are methods, systems and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on non-transitory computer storage media for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight operation and privacy controls. Based on geofence types, and UAV distance from a geofence, sensors and other devices connected to a UAV are conditionally operational. Image data collected during a UAV flight may be obfuscated by the UAV while in flight, or via a post-flight process using log data generated by the UAV.

A system can include a flight controller for an aircraft that includes an electric motor that drives blades with a variable pitch, where the flight controller receives a command to change a flight characteristic of the aircraft and creates a torque command and a revolutions per minute (RPM) command. The system can also include a propulsion assembly, where the propulsion assembly creates a current command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command, creates a blade pitch command based at least in part on the torque command and the RPM command, communicates the current command to the electric motor to change a mechanical output of the electric motor, and communicates the blade pitch command to blade actuators to control the pitch of the blades. The current command and the blade pitch command cause the blades of the aircraft to rotate at a predetermined RPM.

A robotic vehicle management system for the control, optimization and distribution of robotic vehicles is presented in which vehicle operational data is recorded and used to model and optimize a vehicle's travel path. A process for receiving data from multiple vehicles is disclosed, wherein the recorded data is used in the optimization of control systems with regards to travel path, fuel savings, safety, and other considerations. The recorded data may be used to improve system operations or operations of individual vehicles. Methods and techniques are also provided for reading data from vehicle sensors, applying analysis techniques to this data, and uploading improved operational processes to one or more vehicles or to a fleet of vehicles. Adaptive controls, learning based controls, navigation system and other capabilities may be included for optimization and distribution by this discloses system and methods.

Systems and methods related to operating a mobile platform are disclosed. In one embodiment, a logic circuit of a mobile platform may control a first gimbal system of the mobile platform to selectively direct a first variable navigation imaging system of the mobile platform to a first fixation point in an environment. The logic circuit may control a second gimbal system of the mobile platform to selectively direct a second variable navigation imaging system of the mobile platform to a second fixation point in the environment. The logic circuit may navigate the mobile platform about the environment, via a propulsion system of the mobile platform, based on image data associated with the first and second fixation points received from the first and second variable navigation imaging systems, respectively.

In some examples, a computing apparatus may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or more processors, direct the computing apparatus to perform various steps. For example, the program instructions may continually present a graphical user interface (GUI) at the computing apparatus including a display of a current view of the physical environment from a perspective of an aerial vehicle. The program instructions may detect user interactions with the GUI while the aerial vehicle is in flight. The user interactions may include instructions directing the aerial vehicle to maneuver within the physical environment and configure parameters for scanning a three-dimensional (3D) scan volume. The program instruction may then transmit, to the aerial vehicle, data encoding the instructions for performing a 3D scan of the 3D scan volume.

The present disclosure provides a method, an apparatus and a system for operating waypoint, a ground station and a computer readable storage medium. The method includes: displaying an icon of a flight manner related to the waypoint; determining, based on a first touch operation of a user on the icon of the flight manner, the flight manner related to the waypoint; and sending the flight manner to an aircraft, so that the aircraft flies based on the flight manner at the waypoint. In this way, the user can select the flight manner on the waypoint of the aircraft by himself in a touch operation manner, to facilitate control of the flight of the aircraft by the user, so as to facilitate flight control of the aircraft, thereby improving the experience of human-computer interaction.

A video compressor system and device for securement to a drone controller. The device employs a low bandwidth, low latency video compressor, recorder and cellular modem that connect directly to the drone's handheld receiver. The video compressor high quality live video from the drone's receiver to be broadcast over a cellular network at low bandwidth rates and with low latency. The small footprint and low power consumption allows the device to be coupled directly to the drone controller, no external tethering to other larger and less mobile devices is required. The streaming video can be viewed live through a decompression sever on video walls, individual PC's and even handheld mobile devices in the field, which also allows viewers to have complete mobility while maintaining visual connection to the drone video feed.