The present disclosure provides a versatile drone and nest launching system. A hybrid UAV drone having fixed wings in addition to vertical take-off and landing capabilities is used to enable the launching nest to remain compact and of simple design with few moving parts, while also housing a drone capable of travelling long distances. The entire system is configured function autonomously, utilising a solar-powered charging pad installed on the nest to repeatedly recharge and relaunch depleted drones. Novel mounting systems for situating the nest in a variety of terrains are also disclosed.

A vehicle includes, on its roof, a first autonomous driving sensor, a second autonomous driving sensor, and a takeoff and landing assist device. The first autonomous driving sensor is disposed adjacent to the front of the vehicle for sensing conditions ahead of the vehicle. The second autonomous driving sensor is disposed adjacent to the rear of the vehicle for sensing conditions behind the vehicle. The takeoff and landing assist device includes a takeoff and landing surface where a flying device takes off and lands. The takeoff and landing assist device is disposed between the first autonomous driving sensor and the second autonomous driving sensor.

A position correcting mechanism sandwiches, from both sides, a horizonal leg portion of a flying vehicle that has landed on a takeoff/landing surface of a stage, and moves the flying vehicle on the takeoff/landing surface to a position along a centerline. A grip mechanism grips a supporting leg portion of the flying vehicle. The flying vehicle is moved toward a securing device provided at an edge part of the stage, and an end portion of the horizontal leg portion is inserted into an insertion hole of an insertion part. The flying vehicle is thereby secured on the takeoff/landing surface.

A deployable device mountable on a carrier vehicle and configured to collect situation awareness data. The deployable device includes at least one recorder device configured to collect situation awareness data. The deployable device is capable of being ejected from the carrier vehicle and can be configured to operate as a vehicle and/or be towed by the carrier vehicle. The deployable device can continue collection of situation awareness data after being ejected.

A base module may be used to receive and house one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) via one or more cavities. The base module receives commands from a manager device and identifies a flight plan that allows a UAV to execute the received commands. The base module transfers the flight plan to the UAV and frees the UAV. Once the UAV returns, the base module once again receives it. The base module then receives sensor data from the UAV from one or more sensors onboard the UAV, and optionally receives additional information describing its flight and identifying success or failure of the flight plan. The base module transmits the sensor data and optionally the additional information to a storage medium locally or remotely accessible by the manager device.

An operations platform includes a structure configured to house and transport drones and a storage facility configured to store the drones within the structure. The operations platform includes a lift or conveyor configured to move the plurality of drones to/from a launching area. In some implementations, the operations platform may also include at least one robotic element configured to move the drones to and from the storage facility.

Various systems and methodologies may be utilized to determine whether a particular shipment/item is eligible for delivery between a manual delivery vehicle and a final destination location via an autonomous delivery vehicle. To ensure autonomous deliveries are performed in a resource effective manner, shipments/items deemed eligible for autonomous delivery may be vetted by comparing the destination for the autonomous delivery shipment/item against one or more manual delivery destinations (serviced by the manual delivery vehicle operator), and ultimately identifying an optimal launch location for the autonomous delivery vehicle to leave the manual delivery vehicle to complete the autonomous delivery. If the autonomous delivery location does not satisfy applicable autonomous delivery criteria, the autonomous delivery shipment/item may be reclassified for manual delivery by the manual delivery vehicle operator.

A central command system may determine a mission plan for resilient execution by a swarm of drones comprising one or more sensors to capture data in accordance with the mission plan. The mission plan may specify requirements for fault tolerance or parallelism and a redundancy structure for the swarm. The mission plan may be transmitted to a remote drone swarm controller device that determines a swarm configuration based on the mission plan and available drones. The controller may transmit instructions regarding the swarm configuration to dispatch a resilient swarm of drones. During execution of the mission plan, drones in the resilient swarm may be monitored by other drones in the swarm, by the remote drone swarm controller, and/or by the central command system. The redundancy structure provides for failover options for one or more drones in the resilient swarm.

This disclosure describes a moonroof accessory panel. The moonroof accessory panel may be a structure that may be removably attached to a moonroof area of a vehicle. The moonroof accessory panel may be used to hold a drone associated with the vehicle such that the drone may take-off from and land on the moonroof accessory panel. The top of the moonroof accessory panel may also be accessible from the cabin of the vehicle such that a user may place the drone on top of the moonroof accessory panel while inside the cabin. The moonroof accessory panel may also be used for other purposes beyond holding drones as well.

Provided is a system including a platform to receive unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) thereon for launching and retrieving the UAVs, and a method therefor. The system can include a pair of gantry arms that move to any location along the platform to position a UAV as desired. The platform includes a door that can open to expose a storage area in the system to receive and store UAVs, as well as to re-charge power in the UAVs. The storage area can include a plurality of cells that can be adjusted to receive a UAV of any size for storage therein.