An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising a battery holding portion configured to releasably hold a first battery to provide electrical power to the UAV, the battery holding portion being configured to hold the first battery in a position relative to a direction of travel of the UAV such that, upon the UAV encountering a second battery positioned in the path of travel of the UAV, the first battery receives a mechanical impulse from the second battery causing the first battery to be released from the battery holding portion and the second battery replaces the first battery to become held by the battery holding portion to provide electrical power to the UAV.

Remote control system and method to support separate operation of an animal disclosed. Remote control system to support separate operation of an animal includes a drone, capable of performing a separation operation, a wearable device, in form of being wearable on an animal and configured for docking the drone, a server, configured for communicating at least one of the drone and the wearable device to gather information that at least one of the drone or and the wearable device collects, and configured for transmitting a user command to at least one of the drone or and the wearable device, and a user terminal, configured for receiving and outputting the gathered information in communication with the server, and configured for receiving the user command regarding the drone and the wearable device.

The invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle with an energy accumulator (20), which is connected releasably to a structural component (29) of the aerial vehicle, and with an accumulator plug (32), via which electrical energy is conducted from the energy accumulator (20) to a rotor drive (18) of the aerial vehicle. In an operating position, a locking element (25) locks the energy accumulator (20) in relation to the structural component (29) and, in a maintenance position, releases the energy accumulator (20), wherein a full engagement of the accumulator plug (32) is blocked at the same time. The invention also relates to an energy accumulator for such an aerial vehicle, and to a method for attaching an energy accumulator to such an aerial vehicle. It can easily be checked by means of the invention whether the energy accumulator has been attached correctly.

A portable fleet management system enables an operator to efficiently manage a fleet of drones in the field. The portable fleet management system may a comprise a portable housing that houses a charging system for charging batteries of the drones, a storage system for storing images, video, or other sensor data captured by the drones, and various other control, input/output, and processing elements for enabling efficient management of a drone fleet. The charging system is beneficially configured to enable charging of multiple different makes and models of drone batteries that may have different form factors and charging requirements. Furthermore, the storage system may enable efficient offloading, processing, sorting, and backup storage of images or video captured by the drones.

The invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle with an energy accumulator (20), which is connected releasably to a structural component (29) of the aerial vehicle, and with an accumulator plug (32), via which electrical energy is conducted from the energy accumulator (20) to a rotor drive (18) of the aerial vehicle. In an operating position, a locking element (25) locks the energy accumulator (20) in relation to the structural component (29) and, in a maintenance position, releases the energy accumulator (20), wherein a full engagement of the accumulator plug (32) is blocked at the same time. The invention also relates to an energy accumulator for such an aerial vehicle, and to a method for attaching an energy accumulator to such an aerial vehicle. It can easily be checked by means of the invention whether the energy accumulator has been attached correctly.

Systems and methods are disclosed for image capture. For example, methods may include accessing a sequence of images from an image sensor; determining a sequence of parameters for respective images in the sequence of images based on the respective images; storing the sequence of images in a buffer; determining a temporally smoothed parameter for a current image in the sequence of images based on the sequence of parameters, wherein the sequence of parameters includes parameters for images in the sequence of images that were captured after the current image; applying image processing to the current image based on the temporally smoothed parameter to obtain a processed image; and storing, displaying, or transmitting an output image based on the processed image.

This invention relates to the use of a retracting hand launching and landing pole for drones having small or short landing legs that are difficult to grasp when hand launching and landing in windy conditions and on moving platforms or irregular ground, and will not interfere with normal flat surface landings.

The present disclosure is related to unmanned aerial vehicles or drones that have a capability of quickly swapping batteries. This may be accomplished even as the drone continues to fly. A drone consistent with the present disclosure may drop one battery and pickup another using an attachment mechanism. Attachment mechanisms of the present disclosure may include electro-magnets, mechanical actuators, pins, or hooks. Systems consistent with the present disclosure may also include locations where replacement batteries may be provided to aircraft via actuation devices coupled to a physical location.

Systems and method for creating, modifying, and utilizing a virtual 360-degree view of a telecommunications site obtaining data capture from the telecommunications site, wherein the data capture comprises one or more of photos and video; processing the data capture to create a three-dimensional (3D) model of the telecommunications site in a first state, buildings, and constructions therein; importing the 3D model into modification software and adding one or more objects to the 3D model utilizing the modification software, wherein the one or more objects comprise one or more of geography, buildings, and constructions planned as possible additions to the telecommunications sites; creating a modified 3D model with the one or more objects and the 3D model in the first state such that the modified 3D model represents the telecommunications site in a second state; and utilizing the modified 3D model for one or more of planning, engineering, and installation.

A collision avoidance system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) receives physical space data for a flight area and creates a virtual world model to represent the flight area by mapping the physical space data with a physics engine. The automatic collision avoidance system creates a virtual UAV model to represent the UAV in the virtual world model. The automatic collision avoidance system receives flight data for the UAV and determines a current position of the virtual UAV model within the virtual world model. The automatic collision avoidance system determines a predicted trajectory of the virtual UAV model within the virtual world model, and determines whether the predicted trajectory will result in a collision of the virtual UAV model with the virtual world model. The automatic collision avoidance system performs evasive actions by the UAV, in response to determining that the predicted trajectory will result in a collision.