The present invention relates in general to the field of animal husbandry, and more specifically, to a livestock monitoring system utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and methods of using such systems. The system and method of the present invention for monitoring the health and welfare of livestock comprises six primary components: (1) at least one UAV; (2) a plurality of cameras and sensors; (3) a transmitter; (4) a receiver; (5) a server connected to a computer system for receiving images, video, and data from the plurality of cameras and sensors; and (6) a display for viewing in real-time images, video and data obtained from the plurality of cameras and sensors for monitoring the condition of livestock on a farm or ranch. The purpose of the invention is to provide a convenient and cost-efficient system and method for monitoring the condition of livestock to obtain information in real-time about the behavioral and physiological states of individual animals.

A wide area sensor system includes an unmanned airplane being switchable between an airplane mode for high speed flight and a VTOL mode for low speed flight, a state detection sensor provided in the unmanned airplane, the state detection sensor being driven to detect a state of a detection target, and an external control apparatus that controls flight of the unmanned airplane and driving of the state detection sensor. The external control apparatus performs high speed sensing by driving the state detection sensor while performing the high speed flight of the unmanned airplane in the airplane mode. The control apparatus performs low speed sensing by driving the state detection sensor while performing the low speed flight of the unmanned airplane in the VTOL mode.

Provided is an agricultural remote sensing system. Remote sensors, a POS sensor and a data synchronization device are carried on an unmanned aerial vehicle, so that images conforming to the requirement of spatial resolution can be acquired by controlling the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and geometric splicing is conducted on the images according to position information recorded by the POS sensor, so as to obtain an agricultural remote sensing image in a relatively large area. At the same time, a plurality of remote sensors of different types can be simultaneously carried on a platform of the unmanned aerial vehicle, so that various pieces of image information of different types can be acquired once. On the other hand, in the present invention, after a collection trigger signal is received, the plurality of remote sensors execute the collection of the remote sensing image once, so that the remote sensors can be prevented from always being in an operating state, thereby reducing the power consumption of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

A method and a device for flying an unmanned aerial vehicle in a handheld manner and an unmanned aerial vehicle are provided. The method includes: judging whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is triggered to enter a flight standby state; determining whether the unmanned aerial vehicle is in a handheld flat-laying state for a predetermined time period when it enters the flight standby state; and comparing a state parameter of the unmanned aerial vehicle with the state parameter thereof at a previous time instant to judge whether it is released when it is in the handheld flat-laying state, and controlling its rotor wing to rotate for flight when the unmanned aerial vehicle is released. The method is easy to implement, the elimination of the remote control results in a cost saving and the user does not need to operate the remote control.

A rotary wing vehicle includes a body structure having an elongated tubular backbone or core, and a counter-rotating coaxial rotor system having rotors with each rotor having a separate motor to drive the rotors about a common rotor axis of rotation. The rotor system is used to move the rotary wing vehicle in directional flight.

A payload delivery device configured to deliver an aircraft deployed payload along a flight path to a predetermined landing destination includes a support member configured to be removably attached to the payload, a flight control and navigation system module configured to control orientation of the plurality of control surfaces while the payload is travelling along the flight path to the predetermined landing destination, a control surface assembly module including a plurality of control surfaces, a rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor blades having a central axis of rotation, and a collective control assembly module including at least one collective servomotor configured to control a plurality of control linkages connected to the plurality of rotor blades.

A payload delivery device configured to deliver an aircraft deployed payload along a flight path to a predetermined landing destination includes a support member configured to be removably attached to the payload, a flight control and navigation system module configured to control orientation of the plurality of control surfaces while the payload is travelling along the flight path to the predetermined landing destination, a control surface assembly module including a plurality of control surfaces, a rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor blades having a central axis of rotation, and a collective control assembly module including at least one collective servomotor configured to control a plurality of control linkages connected to the plurality of rotor blades.

The invention relates to a rotary-wing drone (10) comprising a drone body (30) that comprises an electronic circuit board controlling the flight of the drone, four link arms (36) comprising a propulsion unit (38) at their ends, two propulsion units each having a propeller (12) that rotates in the clockwise direction and two propulsion units each having a propeller that rotates in the anticlockwise direction, the propulsion units that have propellers that rotate in the same direction being positioned on the same diagonal line. The drone comprises a propulsion support (32) comprising the link arms (36) and a central hub (34), two pairs of symmetrical link arms each extending on either side of the central hub, the central hub (34) being capable of being coupled to the drone body (30), and the propulsion support (32) having at least one torsional bending direction extending in the horizontal plane.

The invention relates to an aircraft comprising a fuselage (1), a plurality of propeller units (3) that can pivot in relation to the fuselage (1), and wings (5) that can pivot at least partially in relation to the fuselage (1) and independently of the propeller units (3).

The disclosure herein provides dynamically configurable remote control unit systems, methods, and devices. A dynamically configurable controller comprises: a transmitter configured to transmit a control signal for receipt by a flying device, the control signal comprising data for operating a plurality of flight control channels of the flying device; a plurality of input controls configured for manipulation by a user to control a plurality of input channels; a computer processor configured to generate the control signal based at least in part on manipulations of the plurality of input controls; and at least one control mode input configured to enable the user to switch the dynamically configurable controller between first and second control modes.