Month: August 2015

Pusher-Prop Quad Will Save the Ceilings

In the early days of aviation, planes used pusher propellers. A pusher prop is typically behind the wing, and the concept probably came from boating, with the ship’s screws located on the stern to push the vessel through water. It took a few years for aerospace engineers to realize that puller props (mounted on the nose of the airplane) were superior because they spun through clean, not dirty air. The air behind the wing is […]

DJI’s Answer to EM Interference: No Touching

Straight from the depths of ‘duh’, comes this peculiar patent application for separation of electromagnetic interference-causing flight controllers and sensitive sensors that would be useless if in proximity of EM interference. DJI proposes to distance the guts of the controller from the sensor between 3 cm and up to 50 cm away, even if that means putting the sensor on a mast (or an “extension member”). According to the application, “operation of navigational, surveillance or […]

DJI’s Inspiring Patent Application

We’ve all oohed and awed over DJI’s Inspire’s 360-degree camera pan without the gear getting in the way of the shot, but did you know that the design can also “increase the functional space of a coupled payload”? From the reading of the patent application, the camera is only a part of what this thing can do. As the patent says, “existing unmanned aerial vehicle designs can be less than ideal for providing unobstructed viewing […]

Flying Claw Opens Doors, May Replace Doormen

From the Nightmare files, a flying claw has been patented. A drone is only as good as the clear space it’s flying through. When flying indoors, if the drone encounters an obstacle, game over, right? Not so, says Robert Marcus of Lafayette, CA. In his issued patent for a “Rotocraft”, Mr. Marcus has patented a flying machine with six degrees of freedom, for the purpose of opening doors, or carrying other tools or weapons. Here […]

Improved VTOL Coaxial Blades

The Osprey is a problematic animal. Not the bird, the aircraft. It took many years and 36 lives (to date) to design a tilt-propeller ship that can take off like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. What if there is a better design? King Abdullah of Jordan thinks so. A recently-granted US Patent discloses a VTOL vehicle that can take off like a helicopter and presumably fly like a plane. The design, using coaxial counter-rotating […]

Intelligent Drone Communication, by Raytheon

Raytheon is no slouch when it comes to technology, and this is no exception: communicating with a drone for military applications is of prime importance. After all, that’s why you launched the UAV in the first place. The need for improved communication are ever-present: “Satellite transponders for military and/or commercial use are oversubscribed and expensive to put in place and maintain. Current RF transponders lack intelligence. Users of low power transmitters must therefore communicate with non-intelligent transponders […]

Drones Navigate RFID Highway

As more and more UAVs clutter the sky, navigation becomes a real issue. Delivery by drone sparks some of these questions: how do you prevent collisions? Optimize efficiency? Keep track of inventory? Certainly, GPS-borne navigation is the flavor du jour, but it’s not the only nav protocol. Along comes Azure Sky Group LLC, and their patent application for radio frequency identification (RFID) method. RFID is nothing new, and most new credit cards have a chip that works on RFID. […]

MedEvac! The Drones are Here

Ripping a page out of science-fiction, Boeing has filed for a software patent to protect the concept of drones rescuing personnel trapped in a hostile environment. The wounded soldier will hitch a ride on a UAV back to safety, thus sparing the lives of the brave search-and-rescue souls. The well-written application states “Due to unforeseen circumstances, personnel may become stranded in an unfamiliar and/or hostile location. Such personnel typically need to be rescued and/or retrieved […]

Boeing Counters Contingencies for Smaller Drones

So you’re operating a UAV, and the engine quits. Is it certain death for your drone? Boeing says ‘no’. According to their patent application, “Larger UAVs and manned aircraft often have redundant systems for communication (e.g., SATCOM) and navigation (e.g., inertial navigation) that enable them to respond to jamming and other contingencies without losing communication and navigation. That is, they have many spectral degrees of freedom. On the other hand, small UAVs typically cannot tolerate the weight, […]

Yuneec’s Lightweight Servo

Although a little older than the up-to-date tech you expect in this blog, Yuneec is emerging as a player in the UAV world, and should be regarded as such. Boasting over 50 patents filed, we found less than that on the USPTO, the present issued patent included. Size and weight are a bane of any flying object. Reduce weight, and the flying object performs slightly better, flies longer and presumably costs less to make in the long run. Servos […]