Provided is a method for controlling flight of a drone and an apparatus supporting the same. More specifically, the drone according to the present invention determines whether or not a specific condition is satisfied to deploy a parachute during the flight, and in a case where the specific condition is satisfied, the drone may stop an operation of one or more propellers to deploy the parachute. Next, the drone deploys the parachute, the parachute is deployed toward an area beside the drone, and the flight of the drone may be controlled by adjusting a rotation speed of each of the one or more propellers.

In an example, a system is described. The system comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a UAV control system to control flight of the UAV. The system also comprises a steerable parachute system for parachute-assisted landing. The steerable parachute system comprises (i) a deployable parachute having steerable parachute cables, (ii) steering actuators, each steering actuator coupled to, and movable to adjust, a respective steerable parachute cable, (iii) a steerable parachute controller, and (iv) one or more parachute system sensors communicatively coupled to the steerable parachute controller and configured to detect physical characteristics of a reachable landing zone for the UAV. The steerable parachute controller is configured to (i) select a safe landing location within the reachable landing zone based on the physical characteristics and (ii) control movement of the steering actuators to steer the parachute to land the UAV at the safe landing location.

Damage mitigating apparatus comprises totally extending hollow tubes, and projectiles attached to undeployed fabric and formed with a tube-receivable rod. Pressurized gas which is generated upon triggering of a gas generator flows through the tubes to propel the projection and to cause performance of at damage mitigating operation. In one embodiment, a damage mitigating aerial vehicle comprises sensors for detecting flight related characteristics and a communication unit for commanding activation of parachute deploying apparatus and of a lift generator deactivation unit following determination of a flight failure. In one embodiment, an aerial vehicle transmits a critical failure alarm signal to an unmanned aircraft traffic management system (UTM) station following detection of to failure, and the UTM elation transmits a warning signal to neighboring aerial vehicles that are predicted to be in a vicinity of the descent path of the failed aerial vehicle to avoid collision with the failed aerial vehicle.

Sensor data that includes or more of the following: (1) aircraft state information associated with an aircraft or (2) parachute canopy state information associated with a parachute canopy is received. The parachute canopy is coupled to the aircraft at a point aft of a center of mass of the aircraft. It is determined, based at least in part on the sensor data, whether to generate a control signal associated with maneuvering the aircraft into a nose-up position. A recovery action is performed, including by deploying the parachute canopy; wherein a load on the parachute canopy is reduced in the event the aircraft is in the nose-up position compared to the aircraft being in a nose-down position.

Various embodiments of systems, apparatus, and/or methods are described for enhanced responsiveness in responding to an emergency situation using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Drones are fully autonomous in that they are operated without human intervention from a pilot, an operator, or other personnel. The disclosed drone utilizes movable access doors to provide the capability of vertically takeoff and landing. The drone also includes an emergency recovery system including a mechanism to deploy a parachute in an event of a failure of the on-board autopilot. Also disclosed herein is a drone port that provides an IR-based docking mechanism for precision landing of the drone, with a very low margin of error. Additionally, the drone port includes pads that provide automatic charge to the drone's batteries by contact-based charging via the drone's landing gear legs.

An aerial vehicle safety apparatus includes an expandable object, an ejection apparatus, a bag-shaped member, and a gas generator. The expandable object is wound or folded in a non-expanded state and generates at least any of lift and buoyancy in an expanded state. The ejection apparatus is coupled to the expandable object by a coupling member and ejects the non-expanded expandable object into air. The bag-shaped member is provided in the expandable object and wound or folded together with or separately from the non-expanded expandable object, and expands the non-expanded expandable object by at least partially being inflated like a tube. The gas generator is provided in the expandable object and inflates the bag-shaped member by causing gas generated at the time of activation to flow into the bag-shaped member.

The invention relates to a device (1) for ejecting a parachute, comprising a housing (2) with an ejection opening (3), wherein the housing (2) is suitable for at least partially accommodating the parachute. In order to enable a robust and repeated ejection of the parachute with a low weight of the device (1), according to the invention a movable base (4) is arranged within the housing (2), which base (4) is connected to the housing (2) via at least one spring element, wherein the base (4) can be releasably fixed in place within the housing (2) using a fixing means (5), wherein the device (1) is configured such that if a parachute is arranged within the housing (2), the base (4) is accelerated by the spring element when the fixing means (5) is released, so that the parachute is ejected through the ejection opening (3) by means of the base (4). Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for ejecting a parachute.

Launch and/or recovery for unmanned aircraft and/or other payloads, including via parachute-assist, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A representative method for lofting a payload includes directing a lifting device upward, releasing a parachute from the lifting device, with the parachute carrying a pulley and having a flexible line passing around the pulley. The flexible line is connected between a tension device (e.g., a winch) and the payload. The method further includes activating the tension device to reel in the flexible line and accelerate the payload upwardly.

An aerial vehicle includes an airframe, a canopy capable of adjusting a speed of falling during falling, a brake cord having one end connected to the canopy, a wind-up apparatus provided in the airframe and being capable of winding up the other end of the brake cord, a sensor unit that detects a distance to an external object, and a controller that controls an operation of the wind-up apparatus based on a result of detection by the sensor unit. The wind-up apparatus includes a gas generator as a drive source. The controller has the wind-up apparatus operate to wind up the other end of the brake cord by activating the gas generator when the distance detected by the sensor unit is equal to or smaller than a prescribed value.

Disclosed is a configuration to control automatic return of an aerial vehicle. The configuration stores a return location in a storage device of the aerial vehicle. The return location may correspond to a location where the aerial vehicle is to return. One or more sensors of the aerial vehicle are monitored during flight for detection of a predefined condition. When a predetermined condition is met a return path program may be loaded for execution to provide a return flight path for the aerial vehicle to automatically navigate to the return location.