A user terminal generates a virtual drone camera image, as an estimated captured image where it is assumed that a virtual drone camera mounted on a drone has captured an image of a planned landing position on the basis of a captured image obtained by capturing the planned landing position of the drone with the user terminal, and transmits the generated virtual drone camera image to the drone. The drone collates the virtual drone camera image with the image captured by the drone camera and lands at the planned landing position in the image captured by the drone camera. The user terminal generates a corresponding pixel positional relationship formula indicating a correspondence relationship between a pixel position on the captured image of the user terminal and a pixel position on the captured image of the virtual drone camera, and generates the virtual drone camera image using the generated relationship formula.

A system and method for protecting a rotorcraft from entering a vortex ring state, the method including monitoring a vertical speed of a rotorcraft, comparing the vertical speed to a vertical speed safety threshold, and performing vortex ring state (VRS) avoidance in response to the vertical speed exceeding the vertical speed safety threshold. The performing the VRS avoidance includes determining a power margin available from one or more engines of the rotorcraft, limiting the vertical speed of the rotorcraft in response to the power margin exceeding a threshold, and increasing a forward airspeed of the rotorcraft in response to the power margin not exceeding the threshold.

Systems and methods to control gain of an electric aircraft are provided in this disclosure. The system may include gain scheduling to provide stability of the electric aircraft at various dynamic states of operation. The system may include a sensor to obtain measurement datum of an operating state. The system may further include a controller that adjusts a control gain of the electric aircraft as a function of the measurement datum. The gain control may be determined by a gain schedule generated by the controller.

A control system configured to control a deceleration process of an air vehicle which comprises at least one tiltable propulsion unit, each of the at least one tiltable propulsion units is tiltable to provide a thrust whose direction is variable at least between a general vertical thrust vector direction and a general longitudinal thrust vector direction with respect to the air vehicle.

Embodiments include devices and methods for navigating an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) based on a measured magnetic field vector and strength of a magnetic field emanated from a charging station. A processor of the UAV may navigate to the charging station using the magnetic field vector and strength. The processor may determine whether the UAV is substantially aligned with the charging station, and the processor may maneuver the UAV to approach the charging station using the magnetic field vector and strength in response to determining that the UAV is substantially aligned with the charging station. Maneuvering the UAV to approach the charging station using the magnetic field vector and strength may involve descending to a center of the charging station. The UAV may follow a specified route to and/or away from the charging station using the magnetic field vector and strength.

Autoland systems and processes for landing an aircraft without pilot intervention are described. In implementations, the autoland system includes a memory operable to store one or more modules and at least one processor coupled to the memory. The processor is operable to execute the one or more modules to identify a plurality of potential destinations for an aircraft. The processor can also calculate a merit for each potential destination identified, select a destination based upon the merit; receive terrain data and/or obstacle data, the including terrain characteristic(s) and/or obstacle characteristic(s); and create a route from a current position of the aircraft to an approach fix associated with the destination, the route accounting for the terrain characteristic(s) and/or obstacle characteristic(s). The processor can also cause the aircraft to traverse the route, and cause the aircraft to land at the destination without requiring pilot intervention.

An approach is provided for generating delivery data models for aerial package delivery. The approach involves determining at least one delivery surface data object to represent one or more delivery surfaces of at least one delivery location, wherein the one or more delivery surfaces represents at least one surface upon which to deliver at least one package. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, a creation of at least one complete delivery data model based, at least in part, on the at least one delivery surface data object to represent the at least one delivery location. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, an encoding of at least one geographic address in the at least one complete delivery data model to cause, at least in part, an association of the at least one complete delivery data model with at least one geographic location.

An automatic landing system includes an imaging device mounted on a vertical take-off and landing aircraft; a relative-position acquisition unit that performs image processing on an image of a marker at a target landing point, and that acquires a relative position between the aircraft and the target landing point; a relative-altitude acquisition unit for acquiring a relative altitude between the aircraft and the target landing point; and a control unit for controlling the aircraft in a plurality of control modes so that the relative position becomes zero. The control modes include a hovering mode in which the relative altitude of the aircraft is lowered to a predetermined relative altitude when the relative position is within a first threshold value. A transition to a landing mode occurs upon satisfying predetermined conditions including the relative position being within a predetermined threshold value less than the first threshold value.

A system includes one or more cameras configured to attach to an aircraft and capture a plurality of images. The plurality of images includes a first image including a runway and a subsequently captured second image including the runway. The system includes an aircraft computing system configured to identify common features in the first and second images, determine changes in locations of the common features between the first and second images, and determine a predicted landing location of the aircraft in the second image based on the changes in locations of the common features. The aircraft computing system is configured to abort landing on the runway based on the predicted landing location relative to the runway.

An aircraft landing assist apparatus includes an image obtaining unit, a shape obtaining unit, a measuring unit, and a calculating unit. The image obtaining unit is configured to obtain an image of a surrounding region of a landing point on which an aircraft is to land. The shape obtaining unit is configured to obtain a shape of the surrounding region of the landing point on the basis of the obtained image. The measuring unit is configured to measure an above-air wind direction and an above-air wind velocity. The calculating unit is configured to calculate a landing-point wind direction and a landing-point wind velocity on the basis of the obtained shape of the surrounding region of the landing point, the measured above-air wind direction, and the measured above-air wind velocity.