USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Jonathan U Crook

Troy S Newhart

Jordan C Lieberman

John W Gawalt

Jessica L Hildebrand

Joshua D Taylor

Charles T Miller

Matthew D Lehr

Michael O Koehler

Timothy Li Ming Peng

Aaron C Williams

A shipboard platform is provided for azimuth and elevation pivoting of a targeting payload. The platform is coupled to a ship and includes a pedestal, an azimuth drive trunnion, a yoke having first and second struts, an elevation drive trunnion and an elevation support trunnion. The pedestal is disposed on the ship. The azimuth drive trunnion is disposed in the pedestal. The yoke is rotatably disposed on the azimuth drive trunnion. The elevation drive and support trunnions are rotatably disposed in their respective first and second struts. The payload is mountable to the elevation drive and support trunnions. Further, a gimbal trunnion is provided for pivoting a payload along an axis. The trunnion includes an annular shaft, an interface mounting plate, an annular rotor, an annular stator, and inner and outer annular housings. The shaft turns the payload along the axis. The interface mounting plate is axially disposed between the payload and the shaft. The annular rotor extends radially outward from the shaft for turning the mounting plate. The annular stator extends radially outward from the rotor to laterally constrain the rotor. The inner and outer annular housings extending radially outward from the stator for encasing the axially tandem bearings.

Shipboard gimbal trunnion

A modular sensor platform is provided for installation on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for sensor operation. The platform includes an external shell that defines an internal volume, an interface module, and a mission module. The shell inserts between sections of the UAV. The interface module attaches to the shell within the volume. The mission module attaches to the shell within the volume. The interface module includes a communications package, a battery package and an air intake.

Modular interface for an aerial drone

A fixture is provided for securing an annular drone module to a test stand. The fixture includes a rear outside annulus, a front inside annulus, a plurality of tabs, and a plurality of flanges. The rear outside annulus extend radially to an outer rim and longitudinally from an aft surface and a lip surface. The front inside annulus extends radially to a mezzanine rim and longitudinally from the lip surface to a fore surface. The tabs extending radially from the mezzanine rim on the front inside annulus. The plurality of flanges extending from the outer rim on the rear outside annulus. The drone module is disposed facing the lip surface between the tabs and the mezzanine rim by first mechanical fasteners, and the flanges mount to the test stand by second mechanical fasteners, such as screws. The fixture can be a unitary construction and be composed of thermoset plastic.

Test module fixture for aerial vehicle module

Growing community of inventors

King George, VA, United States of America

Jonathan U Crook