Autonomous Environmental Control System and Method For Post-Capture and Pre-Launch Management of an Unmanned Air Vehicle
First Claim
1. A system for autonomously controlling and managing a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) between a capture and a launch of the UAV, comprising:
- an enclosure;
a) means for accessing a captured UAV;
b) means for ingress of the captured UAV to the enclosure;
c) means for at least one of i) disassembling the UAV within the enclosure, ii) storing the UAV within the enclosure, and iii) retrieving the UAV from storage within the enclosure;
d) means for egress of the UAV from within the enclosure; and
e) means for readying the UAV for launch.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An embodiment of the invention is directed to a system for controlling and managing a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) between capture and launch of the UAV. The system includes an enclosure that provides environmental protection and isolation for multiple small UAVs in assembled and/or partially disassembled states. Control and management of the UAVs includes reorientation of a captured UAV from a landing platform and secure hand-off to the enclosure, decontamination, de-fueling, ingress to the enclosure, downloading of mission payload, UAV disassembly, stowage, retrieval and reassembly of the UAV, mission uploading, egress of the UAV from the enclosure, fueling, engine testing and launch readiness. An exemplary system includes two or more robots controlled by a multiple robot controller for autonomously carrying out the functions described above. A modular, compact, portable and autonomous system of UAV control and management is described.
330 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A system for autonomously controlling and managing a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) between a capture and a launch of the UAV, comprising:
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an enclosure;
a) means for accessing a captured UAV;
b) means for ingress of the captured UAV to the enclosure;
c) means for at least one of i) disassembling the UAV within the enclosure, ii) storing the UAV within the enclosure, and iii) retrieving the UAV from storage within the enclosure;
d) means for egress of the UAV from within the enclosure; and
e) means for readying the UAV for launch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for autonomously controlling and managing a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) between a capture and a launch of the UAV, comprising:
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an enclosure;
at least a first robot and a second robot operationally interfaced to the enclosure and programmed and controlled to perform at least two of;
i) access a captured UAV, ii) retrieve the accessed UAV into the enclosure, iii) disassemble the UAV within the enclosure, iv) store the UAV within the enclosure, v) retrieve the UAV from storage within the enclosure, and vi) prepare the UAV for launch; and
at least one multiple robot controller programmed to control the at least first and second robots from a single control point. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification