There are approximately 35,000 abandoned and unplugged oil and gas wells in New York with no known location. Unplugged wells emit methane, a strong greenhouse gas, which has the potential to significantly contribute to global climate change and act as a pollutant chemical. A long-range UAV equipped with methane sensors, MagPike (atomic magnetometer), and LiDAR sensors successfully detected unmarked well sites using characteristic magnetic signals generated by vertical metal piping preserved in the ground. The optimal flight altitude and transect spacing was determined for detection driven by the total field strength of the Earth's magnetic field and the height of tree canopies determined by LiDAR. Traditional methods of identifying oil and gas wells are costly and less powerful in acquisition of data such as using large magnetometers attached to helicopters.

A ground proximity warning system for an aircraft includes a plurality of alarm generators, each able to generate an alarm by verifying evolution conditions of the aircraft specific to each alarm generator, the verification using data obtained from at least one measuring sensor of the aircraft. The ground proximity warning system includes a unit for selective deactivation of at least some of the alarm generators, able to be implemented during a search and rescue mission carried out by the aircraft, and an auxiliary alarm generator, capable of emitting a ground proximity alarm based on the safety height chosen for the search and rescue mission, when the selective deactivation unit is implemented.

According to the present invention, a drone control system includes: a flying drone; a cloud server configured to transmit and receive information to and from the drone by wireless communication; and a ground control system configured to establish a flight plan of the drone by connecting the drone and the cloud server by the wireless communication.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprises a flight control system and an electromechanical system directed by the flight control system. The flight control system is configured to track a position of a beacon that is in motion and monitor a difference between an actual position of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a desired position of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the position of the beacon. The flight control system configures one or more flight objectives based on one or more factors comprising whether the difference between the actual position and the desired position exceeds a threshold, wherein the flight objectives comprise a velocity objective and a position objective. The flight control system also commands the electromechanical system based at least on the one or more flight objectives.

Disclosed herein is an unmanned delivery management device. The unmanned delivery management device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a travel route manager, a delivery information manager, an obstacle analyzer, and a UAV control manager. Wherein the travel route manager is configured to confirm delivery mission information provided by a user terminal, to set a waypoint based on the delivery mission information, to set a travel route including a waypoint for a takeoff segment, a landing segment and a flight segment, and to correct the travel route according to a travel condition of a UAV.

An unmanned aerial vehicle detector includes an unmanned aerial vehicle, a pump/detector combination on the unmanned aerial vehicle and a tube including a rigid section and a flexible section. The tube is connected at a proximal end to the pump/detector combination. The pump/detector combination is configured to draw gas samples from a distal end of the tube to the detector and to detect a level of a gas drawn from within a prescribed distance above ground level.

A controller obtains a first horizontal distance and a first vertical distance which are respectively a component in a horizontal direction and a component in a vertical direction among distances from an unmanned aerial vehicle to a surface of a particular place where elevation gradually increases or decreases along the horizontal direction, decides, based on a ratio of the first horizontal distance to the first vertical distance, a movement amount by which the unmanned aerial vehicle is to be moved simultaneously in both the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and moves the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the movement amount.

A method and system for determining flight height of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a determining device that includes a camera at bottom of the UAV carried on a three-axis self-stabilizing tripod head; and a carrier phase difference satellite positioning system (CPDSPS), a graphics processing computer (GPC) and a power supply system provided on top of the UAV The GPC is connected with the CPDSPS, the power supply system and the camera, respectively. An attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) is provided at the bottom of the three-axis self-stabilizing tripod head and connected with the GPC The GPC is configured to determine relative height of the UAV from a canopy of farmland surface crops according to position information acquired by the CPDSPS, attitude information acquired by the AHRS and ground orthographic image acquired by the camera, and determine flight height of the UAV according to the relative height.

An unmanned aerial vehicle detector includes an unmanned aerial vehicle, a pump/detector combination on the unmanned aerial vehicle and a tube including a rigid section and a flexible section. The tube is connected at a proximal end to the pump/detector combination. The pump/detector combination is configured to draw gas samples from a distal end of the tube to the detector and to detect a level of a gas drawn from within a prescribed distance above ground level.

A method and apparatus for automatically determining a characteristic of a crop using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes operating the UAV at an elevation above a ground surface of a field and collecting first data that indicates an elevation of the UAV with a barometric pressure based altimeter of the UAV. Second data is collected with a SONAR sensor of the UAV that indicates a distance to a nearest object on the ground surface. The SONAR sensor has a SONAR sensor range and the elevation above the ground surface is less than the SONAR sensor range. The method further includes receiving the first data and the second data on a processor, and determining a height of the nearest object above the ground surface with the processor based on the first data and second data. Output data that indicates the height of the nearest object is presented on a display.