Disclosed herein are example embodiments for unoccupied flying vehicle (UFV) location confirmance. For certain example embodiments, at least one machine, such as a UFV, may: (i) obtain at least one indication of at least one location of a UFV; or (ii) attempt to counter at least one attack against a location determination for the UFV. However, claimed subject matter is not limited to any particular described embodiments, implementations, examples, or so forth.

An airframe is provided that can be flown under the control of an operator or an automated sensor and feedback system. The airframe can be any of a variety of known configurations with multiple rotors, fixed or retractable wings, puller or pusher propellers, or jet engines. The airframe includes at least one arm that is used to intercept and disable another airborne vehicle. In some configurations, the arm is fixed and can include fingers at its outer end. In other configurations, the arm is movable from a closed condition to an open condition. A wire or net is connected between the arm and a portion of the airframe so that the wire or net is spread open when the arm is deployed to the open condition. The wire or net are configured to disable or capture a target such as another aerial vehicle.

A drone includes a plurality of rotors disposed at and around a base and operable to fly and steer the drone. At least one net launcher is disposed at the base and is operable to launch a net toward a target object. A control is responsive to a signal indicative of a detected target object, and the control, responsive to such a signal, is operable to aim the net launcher toward the target object and to launch the net toward the target object.

Methods and apparatus for pointing logic in aircraft are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus to aim an aiming device carried by an aircraft includes at least one memory, machine readable instructions, and processor circuitry. The processor is to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to determine a position of a target, determine an orientation of the aircraft, determine aiming points based on the orientation and a movement range of the aiming device, and determine a movement of at least one of the aircraft or the aiming device based on the aiming points and the position to orient the aiming device toward the target.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for performing an action when an aggregated confidence measure. Data is received from a first sensor proximate to a particular air space. Data is also received from a second sensor and a third sensor proximate to the particular air space. The data from the first sensor, second sensor, and third sensor are each analyzed to determine respective confidence measures that a UAV is within the particular air space. The first sensor corresponds to a first type of data, the second sensor corresponds to a second type of data, and the third sensor corresponds to a third type of data. The confidence measures from each sensor are aggregated together to generate a combined confidence measure indicating a possible presence of the UAV within in the particular air space. When the combined confidence measure exceeds a threshold, an action is taken.

Damage mitigating apparatus comprises in one embodiment a damage mitigating aerial vehicle that has 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) following detection of the failure, and the UTM 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. The damage mitigating apparatus facilitates performance of a damage mitigating operation.

Systems and methods for aerial unmanned vehicle (for example, drone) early warning privacy breach detection, interception, and defense are disclosed. The system detects drones within a threshold distance of an individual or configurable location, notifies the individual of the drones' existence, tracks the drones, and executes countermeasures. The system can communicate with telecommunication networks or other sources (for example, FAA) to identify and filter out drones that are authorized to be in the airspace around the individual.

Provided are a drone and a method of neutralizing an illegal drone performed by the drone. The method includes, by interoperating with a ground management device installed in a protection zone, detecting an illegal drone flying in the protection zone without permission, tracking the illegal drone having mobility using a detection sensor mounted on the drone at the same time as the illegal drone is detected, and by performing a direct collision on a center frame of the tracked illegal drone, capturing the illegal drone on which the direct collision is performed.

An airframe is provided that can be flown under the control of an operator or an automated sensor and feedback system. The airframe can be any of a variety of known configurations with multiple rotors, fixed or retractable wings, puller or pusher propellers, or jet engines. The airframe includes at least one arm that is used to intercept and disable another airborne vehicle. In some configurations, the arm is fixed and can include fingers at its outer end. In other configurations, the arm is movable from a closed condition to an open condition. A wire or net is connected between the arm and a portion of the airframe so that the wire or net is spread open when the arm is deployed to the open condition. The wire or net are configured to disable or capture a target such as another aerial vehicle.

The present disclosure addresses the problem of UAVs pursuing a swarm of target UAVs. The target UAVs are flying together as a flock that are initially modeled as a circle having a time-varying radius or an arbitrarily-shaped swarm that may change in size. Guidance of the pursuing UAVs is developed based on a collision cone framework, wherein the pursuing UAVs cooperatively steer the velocity vector of any point in their convex hull, to intercept the target. Also, the problem of capturing a swarm of intruder UAVs using a net manipulated by a team of defense UAVs is disclosed. The intruder UAV swarm may be stationary, in motion, and even maneuver. Collision cones in 3-dimensional space are used to determine the strategy used by the net carrying UAVs to maneuver or manipulate the net in space in order to capture the intruders.