Mix and Matching Propellers Reduces Noise
It took some outside-the-box thinking by the folks at Aurora, a Boeing-owned company, to arrive at this invention. They asked the question “but Why are drones so loud?” The answer is not so simple: constructive interference. When a propeller spins, it has a noise profile. This noise profile is part spinning motor, part propeller’s interaction with air. This profile has peaks and valleys. Add 3 more propellers with identical noise profiles, and the peaks and […]
Airborne Battery Swapper for Telecom Drones
Ericsson (the Swedish telecommunications giant) has applied for an interesting invention: a UAV that can swap batteries of other UAVs mid-flight. Why would Ericsson need an electric air refueling tanker? Because they want to provide telecommunication services using drones. Imagine being on a search and rescue mission in a vast expanse of nothing, and you need to check your Instagram. Ericsson’s drones can provide full mobile coverage, and stay aloft indefinitely. The invention mainly discloses […]
A Quieter Propeller: Chasing the Unicorn
This may be old news, but let’s look at the toroidal propeller patent from 2020. It is a valiant attempt to make drones more palatable for the general public. The idea came from the “ring wing” design, an airplane with a wing in the shape of a ring. Tests in WW2 were promising, because this design spreads out the vortices normally concentrated at the tips of regular wings. The inventor of this design (interview here: […]
Spy, Dragonfly, Chop Chop
Straight out of science fiction and into British Secretary of State for Defence’s patent portfolio, this drone flies like a dragonfly, “a drone having an elongate fuselage and four wings arranged to provide lift by flapping.” It’s the size of a Corona cigar with a camera on each end, and two wings on each side, and it flies. The very brief patent text is focused mainly on the cameras, and very little is said about […]
Tiny Cars Can Inspect and Repair Pipes
We can all agree that plumbing is the cat’s meow. You get water on demand, and once you’re done with it, whoosh, it’s gone. This magic is made possible with plumbing. But plumbing is not forever. It needs to be cared for, maintained, loved. Bad things happen if plumbing fails. Expensive things. This invention will take care of plumbing. As the patent states, “The inspections of underground pipe systems are of utmost importance to preserve […]
Drone Radar Can Spot a Mavic at 500 Meters
Suppose you want to monitor your airspace so that even a small drone can’t get through without you knowing. This elegant and compact system can protect you. You set up 3 towers six meters apart, and they connect to a computer with artificial intelligence that has been taught about all sorts of drones, mainly what their RF signals look like. Not only that, this invention can tell if the trespassing drone’s operator is nearby, or […]
Air Traffic Control for Drone Deliveries to Balconies
For the moment, drone deliveries are far from mainstream. They can be useful in rural environments with vast expanses, but hardly safe in an urban setting. This invention is for an air traffic control ground station to help a delivery drone leave a package on your balcony. A user simply installs a gizmo on their front door or on the balcony, and the gizmo talks to the drone once the drone is within hailing distance. […]
US Navy Drone Holds Shade, Lights
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that this invention was funded by, and can be used by the US Navy without paying a royalty. What does this invention do? Flying drones have panels or lights attached to them, and coordinate their positions with cameras stationed on the ground to add or subtract light for a specific photo or video shoot. Out of the 4000 words in the patent application, none of […]
Cool Flying Machine
Ever wanted to fly? Sure, we all have. Here is a machine that will let you soar in the sky. The pilot can control it manually, or it can fly on auto-pilot, presumably taking a wounded person out of a dangerous zone. The fans can run on batteries or a gas engine. To control the rotorcraft, the fans can be tilted for forward flight, and their speed varied for yaw because they counter-rotate. Claim 1 […]
Microsoft Drones Augment Virtual Reality
Let’s face it: virtual reality can only go so far. Your mind may be immersed in another universe, but your body hasn’t left the room. You might see a dragon, but if you reach out to pet its nose, all you will touch is air. How do you increase your suspension of belief? How about being able to interact with physical objects you see in your VR goggles? This is where Microsoft’s invention comes in: […]