A lighter than air airship (1) comprising a gas-filled flexible hull (2) which is elongate with a longitudinal axis (1′) and with a front end (4) and a rear end (5), wherein a harness-structure (3) is abutting an outer side of the hull (2) and not perturbing the hull and not extending through the hull, the harness-structure (3) is made of a bendable material and carries a propeller engine (10) for forward thrust of the airship (1), rechargeable batteries (11) for providing electrical power to the propeller engine (10), and a solar panel for providing electrical power to recharge the batteries (11).

An aerial vehicle comprising: at least three support arms for interconnecting at least three motors; at least one battery module; at least one of the support arms is configured to support the at least one battery module such that the battery module forms a structural element of the support arm.

An aero wind power generation apparatus includes: a drone unit including drone wings configured to make the aero wind power generation apparatus move and hover and a sensor unit configured to detect information for controlling the aero wind power generation apparatus; a buoyancy generation unit connected to the drone unit and including a side cover configured to open or close and a balloon provided inside the side cover, wherein the buoyancy generation unit is configured to enable injection of gas into or release of the gas from the balloon; and a power generation unit connected to the buoyancy generation unit and including a rotating unit with a plurality of blades, a blade control unit of adjusting the state of the blades, and a motor unit of converting kinetic energy transferred from the rotating unit into electrical energy.

An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle detecting system for monitoring a geographic area includes an unmanned blimp adapted to hover in air, at least one camera mounted on the blimp to scan at least a portion of the geographic area, a location sensor to determine a location of the blimp, and a controller arranged in communication with blimp, the at least one camera, and the location sensor. The controller is configured to position the blimp at a desired location in the air based on inputs received from the location sensor, and monitor the geographic area based on the images received from at least one camera. The controller is also configured to detect a presence of an unmanned aerial vehicle within the geographic area based on the received images, and determine whether the detected unmanned aerial vehicle is an unauthorized unmanned aerial vehicle based on the received images.

A system for an unmanned aerial vehicle can include an altitude control system, which further includes a compressor assembly, a valve assembly, and an electronics assembly. The compressor assembly may include a driveshaft and a bearing assembly configured to rotate the driveshaft. The driveshaft may be formed from a first material and a compressor housing may be formed from a second material. The first and second materials may have different rates of thermal expansion. A dynamic preloading mechanism, such as a flexible plate, may be provided within the compressor assembly to exert a preloading force on the bearing assembly. Throughout the duration of the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the preloading mechanism can continually compensate for differences in rates of thermal expansion between the first and second materials throughout.

A hybrid airship (drone, UAV) capable of significantly extended flight times can use one of two technologies, or both together. The first technology uses a combination of a lifting gas (such as hydrogen or helium) in a central volume or balloon and multirotor technology for lift and maneuvering. The second technology equips the airship with an on board generator to charge the batteries during flight for extended flight operations, with an internal combustion engine (such as a high power to weight ratio gas turbine engine) driving the generator. A quadcopter or other multicopter configuration is desirable.

Overall efficiency and/or flight time of UAVs and Drones can be increased by adding elements containing lighter-than-air gasses; and/or by reducing and/or eliminating the power supplied to any combination of the motors to reduce overall power consumption. In an aspect the configuration of a blimp drone include at least one air cavity/chamber/container filled with lighter-than-air gasses. The 3D chambers are made from swept or extruded closed 2D geometry and are detachable from the Drone and can be transparent or camouflaged in color. To maintain control and altitude of the aircraft, lifting surfaces can be incorporated. Such lifting surfaces may include active and/or passive control surfaces to maintain flight stability. Additionally, cavities, fissures, orifices and valves may be added to the surface of the flying vehicle to gain other efficiency advantages.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) having an envelope and a drone body capable of delivering packages is disclosed. Methods for utilizing UAVs to deliver packages and systems for housing UAVs are also disclosed. In one aspect, a UAV includes a dual cavity envelope having an ellipsoid shape with a first internal cavity and a second internal cavity, the first internal cavity configured to hold a lighter than air gas, the second internal cavity configured to hold a heated gas, and a drone body attached to and located below the dual cavity vertical envelope.

An airship and its long-term floating capacity maintenance method are disclosed. The airship includes an airship capsule and a pod at bottom. A renewable fuel cell and a water tank communicated with each other are arranged in the pod. The water tank is provided with a water inlet connected with a filling aircraft outside the airship. The airship capsule is provided with a solar cell. The interior of the airship capsule is provided with a hydrogen storage bag. The solar cell is electrically connected with the renewable fuel cell. The renewable fuel cell can use electric energy provided by the solar cell to electrolyze water provided by the filling aircraft into hydrogen and supplement the hydrogen to the hydrogen storage bag. The airship can supplement hydrogen to the airship capsule by electrolyzing water to reduce the phenomenon of insufficient gas in the airship capsule.

An airborne RF-head platform system and method. Here, much of the computational burden of transmitting and receiving wireless RF waveforms is shifted from the airborne platform to a ground baseband unit (BBU). The airborne platform, which will often be a high altitude balloon or drone type platform, generally comprises one or more remote radio heads, configured with antennas, A/D and D/A converters, frequency converters, RF amplifiers, and the like. The airborne platform communicates with the ground baseband units either directly via a laser communications link, or indirectly through another airborne relay platform. The airborne RF-head communicates via various wireless protocols to various user equipment such as smartphones by using the BBU and the laser communications link to precisely control the function of the airborne A/D and D/A converters and antennas. This system reduces the power needs, weight, and cost of the airborne platform, and also improves operational flexibility.