An aerial vehicle includes a wing body. The aerial vehicle includes a plurality of rotors coupled to the wing body. Each one of the rotors includes a plurality of rotor blades. The aerial vehicle includes a drive assembly configured to rotate the rotors. The aerial vehicle includes a controller configured to selectively control thrust produced by each one of the rotors. Selective control of the thrust produced by each one of the rotors induces a pitch motion of the aerial vehicle to transition the aerial vehicle between a horizontal flight state and a vertical flight state. In the horizontal flight state, the wing body is approximately horizontal and a collective thrust from the rotors is directed forward. In the vertical flight state, the wing body is approximately vertical and the collective thrust from the plurality rotors is directed upward.

A remote controlled lighter-than-air drone assembly that is capable of prolonged flight. The drone assembly utilizes a balloon structure. Separately, a reservoir is provided for holding a smaller second volume of gas. A propulsion system and a control unit are carried by the balloon structure. The control unit selectively transfers the gas from the reservoir to the balloon structure, and selectively vents the gas as needed. A receiver is used to receive command signals from an external source. The command signals are utilized to operate the propulsion system. An electronics suite is provided that can be altered depending upon duties. The electronics suite is used to scan or otherwise monitor an area below the drone assembly. In flight, the balloon structure is translucent and internally illuminated. A projector can be provided for projecting images onto the interior of the balloon structure.

A system and method for controlling a multi-rotor aircraft that implements the unconventional use of an odd number of rotors. The odd or auxiliary rotor is designed to be smaller in diameter than the remaining main rotors and accordingly generates a smaller unbalanced torque and pitch on the aircraft. Additional configurations implement the use of smaller thrust rotors that can be used to generate thrust as well as control yaw and thus counteract any remaining unbalanced torque from the odd auxiliary rotor.

A power module includes a turbine arranged along a rotation axis, an interconnect shaft fixed in rotation relative to the turbine, and a compressor with a regenerative compressor wheel. The regenerative compressor wheel is fixed in rotation relative to the interconnect shaft supported for rotation with the turbine about the rotation axis. Generator arrangements, unmanned aerial vehicles, and methods of generating electrical power are also described.

An exemplary ducted fan includes a duct having a central longitudinal axis, a rotor hub and stator hub extending along the central longitudinal axis, rotor blades extending from the rotor hub, each of the rotor blades operable to rotate about its own pitch-change axis, the pitch-change axes lying in a rotor plane that is generally perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis, each of the rotor blades having a rotor trailing edge and a rotor chord length, stators extending from the stator hub to an interior surface of the duct, each of the stators having a stator leading edge and a stator thickness, and a first separation between the rotor plane and the stator leading edge of not less than approximately 1.5 times the stator thickness.

A drone includes a frame and a fuselage. The fuselage is coupled to the frame extending away from the frame. The fuselage has a front panel and a bottom panel, and the front panel is positioned at an angle between the bottom surface of the frame and the bottom panel of the fuselage. A first wing is opposite a second wing and are coupled to the frame. The first and second wings extend outwardly from opposite sides of the frame. A first and second mounting member are coupled to the frame and extend outwardly from opposite sides of the frame. A plurality of power generator systems are included and each system is coupled to the first or second mounting member. Each power generator system comprises a power source coupled to a propeller.

A method of transporting cargo, a cargo transport system and an unmanned Wing In Ground Effect vessel (UWIG) for transporting the cargo. A wake up signal indicates assignment of a new delivery. The UWIG begins pre-flight, causes cargo to be transported to the UWIG, and causes the cargo loaded into UWIG storage compartments. Once loaded and the loaded UWIG is ready, the UWIG taxis, e.g., to the open sea. Environmentally sealed PAR thrust fans provide PAR thrust during takeoff. The UWIG flies to a delivery location where cargo is unloaded, and may be stored.

An advanced acoustic awareness platform configured to classify environmental sounds. The advanced acoustic awareness platform comprises an audio signal acquisition sensor array and one or more processors programmed to augment the audio signal, extract features for the audio signal, visualize, and classify the signal using one or more labels. In at least one embodiment, the signal is classified based on transfer learning associated with a pretrained machine learning model.

An unmanned vehicle having a launch configuration and one or more operational configurations. In the launch configuration, one or more engines resides within an engine bay. The unmanned vehicle is generally shaped like a projectile and can be launch from any tube-shaped deployment system using an initial propulsor. The engine bay can be opened, and the engines can be moved into a generally external position with respect to the engine bay for operation of said engines. In some embodiments, the one or more engines can pivot to direct thrust in multiple directions. In some embodiments, the unmanned vehicle includes flight control surfaces to further improve the flight characteristics of the vehicle.

Provided are a device configuration, method, etc. for performing imaging investigation in an investigation space using an unmanned aerial vehicle. A system includes: a flight start platform; the vehicle which is connected to a line-type member and equipped with an investigation camera, a travel-direction imaging camera, and a vehicle-side communication unit; an external control device which is equipped with a display unit and an external control device-side communication unit, and which receives the travel-direction image data through the external control device-side communication unit, receives an input of control commands for the vehicle while having a video or still image obtained from the travel-direction image data displayed on the display unit, and transmits a signal indicating the control commands from the external control device-side communication unit; and an attraction device which is connected to the line-type member and attracts the vehicle.