A robust amphibious air vehicle incorporates a fuselage with buoyant stabilizers and wings extending from the fuselage. At least one lift fan is mounted in the fuselage. Movable propulsion units carried by the wings are rotatable through a range of angles adapted for vertical and horizontal flight operations.

An amphibious cargo carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a fuselage, two wings and two frames, in which a cargo hold is arranged at the lower end of the fuselage, the cargo hold is provided with a cargo chamber for cargo carrying, and the cargo hold can touch the water surface at the same time. When taking off or landing on the water surface, the hollow structure of the cargo chamber can provide additional buoyancy. The two wings are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the fuselage, the two frames are correspondingly arranged on the two wings, and the buoyancy parts can be detachably arranged on the two frames to provide buoyancy.

An example computing system is configured to: (i) receive, from one or more sensors of a vehicle in motion over a body of water, a set of sensor data, (ii) based on the set of sensor data, determine (a) an instantaneous distance between the vehicle and a surface of the body of water and (b) an instantaneous slope of the surface of the body of water, (iii) based on at least one of the instantaneous distance or the instantaneous slope, determine a statistical representation of the surface of the body of water, and (iv) based on the determined statistical representation of the surface of the body of water, adjust one or more control surfaces of the vehicle to change one or more of a speed, altitude, heading, or attitude of the vehicle.

A buoyancy method for deploying a plurality of floats of a buoyancy system of an aircraft. The plurality of floats comprises a plurality of main floats and a plurality of secondary floats that are folded in flight. The method comprises a step of deploying the main floats in flight prior to ditching, and a step of deploying the secondary floats after ditching.

A buoyancy method for deploying a plurality of floats of a buoyancy system of an aircraft. The plurality of floats comprises a plurality of main floats and a plurality of secondary floats that are folded in flight. The method comprises a step of deploying the main floats in flight prior to ditching, and a step of deploying the secondary floats after ditching.

Disclosed is a system for an amphibious aircraft where floats on each side of the aircraft include aerodynamic structures. The structures are configured to compensate for aerodynamic imbalances (e.g., in yaw and pitch) created by the incorporation of the floats onto the aircraft.

Disclosed is a system for an amphibious aircraft where floats on each side of the aircraft include aerodynamic structures. The structures are configured to compensate for aerodynamic imbalances (e.g., in yaw and pitch) created by the incorporation of the floats onto the aircraft.

Various embodiments of a vision-guided unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system to identify and collect foreign objects from the surface of a body of water are disclosed herein. A vision system and methodology has been developed to reduce reflections and glare from a water surface to better identify an object for removal. A linearized polarization filter and a specularity-removal algorithm is used to eliminate excessive reflection and glare. A contour-based detection algorithm is implemented for detecting the targeted objects on water surface. Further, the system includes a boundary layer sliding mode control (BLSMC) methodology to reduce and minimize position and velocity errors between the UAV and object in the presence of modeling and parameter uncertainties due to variation in a moving water surface.

Various embodiments of a vision-guided unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system to identify and collect foreign objects from the surface of a body of water are disclosed herein. A vision system and methodology has been developed to reduce reflections and glare from a water surface to better identify an object for removal. A linearized polarization filter and a specularity-removal algorithm is used to eliminate excessive reflection and glare. A contour-based detection algorithm is implemented for detecting the targeted objects on water surface. Further, the system includes a boundary layer sliding mode control (BLSMC) methodology to reduce and minimize position and velocity errors between the UAV and object in the presence of modeling and parameter uncertainties due to variation in a moving water surface.

The disclosure provides a method of controlling the yaw of a fixed-wing UAV, with two traction propellers arranged parallel to each other and providing thrust for the UAV; A plurality of motors configured to drive the two traction propellers, wherein the thrust ratio provided by the two traction propellers is changed to generate asymmetric thrust which controls the active yaw of the UAV. The fixed-wing UAV provided by the disclosure improves the reliability of the thrust system and active yaw.