Systems and methods are disclosed for transporting people using air vehicles.

An airport ground collision alerting system and a method of operating an airport ground collision alerting system. The airport ground collision alerting system comprises an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, ADS-B, receiver; a first database coupled to the ADS-B receiver and configured for look-up of aircraft type data based on aircraft ID data received via the ADS-B receiver and for storing aircraft position and heading data received via the ADS-B receiver; a second database configured to store digital map data for one or more airports; a processor unit coupled to the first and second databases and an application programming interface, API, configured to couple the airport ground collision alerting system to a display device.

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A wireless device may receive a broadcast remote identification (BRID) message from a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), where the BRID message may include an identity of the UAV. The wireless device may identify UAV information associated with the UAV based on the UAV ID. In some cases, the wireless device may be configured with information that enables the identification of the UAV information. In other cases, the wireless device may request the UAV information from a network entity, such as a UAV flight management system (UFMS), which provides the requested UAV information. In some examples, the UFMS may request the UAV information from an unmanned aerial system (UAS) service supplier (USS) based on the BRID information. Upon identifying the UAV information, the wireless device may broadcast the UAV information to manned aerial vehicles, thereby indicating a presence of the UAV.

According to the present invention there is provided a drone (1) comprising one or more propellers (2) and one or more actuators (3) for actuating said one or more propellers (2) to generating a thrust force which enables the drone (1) to fly; a controller (4) which is configured such that it can control the flight of the drone (1), wherein the controller (4) comprises a memory (6) having stored therein a plurality of predefined sets of positions which define a virtual rail which can be used to guide the flight of the drone (1) so that the drone can avoid collision with an subject; and wherein the controller further comprises a mathematical model (7) of the drone; wherein the controller (4) is configured to control the flight of the drone by performing at least the following steps, (a) approximating lag error based on the position of the drone (1) measured by a sensor (5) and the virtual rail, wherein the lag error is the distance between a point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1) and an estimate of said point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1); (b) approximating a contour error based on the position of the drone (1) as measured by a sensor (5) and the virtual rail, wherein the contour error is the distance between a point along the virtual rail which is closest to the drone (1) and the position of the drone (1); (c) defining a cost function which comprises at least said approximation of the lag error and said approximation of the contour error; (d) minimizing the defined cost function, while also respecting at least limitations of the drone which are defined in said mathematical model, to determine a plurality of control inputs over a predefined time period into the future, and (e) applying the first control input only to the one or more actuators (3). There is further provided a corresponding method for controlling the flight of a drone.

A power supply information determination apparatus acquires, for each of one or a plurality of landing places each including equipment on which a battery-driven vertical take-off and landing aircraft capable of autonomously flying can land, aircraft information about the aircraft flying in a surrounding region of a landing place, and place information about the landing place. The place information includes facility information indicating a power supply facility and an attached power supply facility capable of supplying power in a landing state and a non-landing state, respectively. Both facilities are provided at the landing place. The apparatus determines a facility of at least one of a power supply facility and an attached power supply facility of each aircraft, a power supply start time to the facility, and a waiting period, based on the acquired information about each aircraft and each landing place, and transmits determined information to the corresponding aircraft.

In some examples, a system includes a memory configured to store a buffer storing volumetric weather data. The system also includes processing circuitry configured to retrieve weather radar data from the buffer by retrieving a first reflectivity value associated with a first cell of the buffer, where the first cell represents a first volume of space. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine an altitude of a first location based on a parameter and an altitude extent of the first volume of space. The altitude of the first location is lower than an altitude of a centroid of the first volume of space. The processing circuitry is also configured to associate the first reflectivity value with the first location.

Deployed drones are managed. For instance, a first drone detects whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network to determine a configuration parameter of a first message to broadcast discovery information associated with the first drone. In response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a first value for the configuration parameter. Or, in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, the first drone broadcasts the first message configured with a second value for the configuration parameter different from the first value.

The present invention relates to a method and system for gathering data along points of travel using common portable electronic devices that are typically used for other functions. More specifically, the data gathered by these portable electronic devices may be accessed, processed, validated, and used in conjunction with, or alone, to produce, augment, and/or validate other data sets across wide ranges of science and technology.

A system and method for an ownship aircraft auto transition from an assigned spacing application to a visual separation application provides the ability to intuitively pre-configure for and execute an automatic transition from an assigned spacing traffic application managing an assigned interval spacing to a traffic application managing visual separation from an assigned target aircraft. This feature enables integration between separate traffic applications, creating new capabilities while reducing the workload on the pilot during a particularly busy phase of flight.

A method for determining a trajectory of an aircraft intended to fly over a field of operation with a view to performing an action on a target at a given time is provided. The method comprises a step of computing a set of sections between a starting point, intermediate points and the target. A first type of section has a rectilinear overall shape so as to limit the time spent by the aircraft in non-secure areas. A second type of section has a sinusoidal shape so as to allow a time reserve to adjust a position of the aircraft over the target at said given time with a view to performing the action.