Near Earth Autonomy, Inc.

Other

Lyle J Chamberlain

Sanjiv Singh

Sebastian Scherer

Benjamin Grocholsky

Bradley Hamner

Joseph A Kamnikar

Adam Stambler

Hugh Cover

Vladimir Brajovic

Paul Bartlett

Jonathan Taylor

David Duggins

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for autonomously estimating the position and orientation ('pose') of an aircraft relative to a target site are disclosed herein, including a system including a plurality of beacons arranged about the target site, wherein the plurality of beacons collectively comprise at least one electromagnetic radiation source and at least one beacon ranging radio, a sensor system coupled to the aircraft including an electromagnetic radiation sensor and a ranging radio configured to determine a range of the aircraft relative to the target site, and a processor configured to determine an estimated pose of the aircraft based on at least: (i) detected electromagnetic radiation, and (ii) time-stamped range data for the aircraft relative to the target site.

Multimodal beacon based precision landing system for autonomous aircraft

A lidar scanning instrument includes one or more optical elements for redirecting a portion of the output beam sweep of the lidar scanning instrument in a different direction. Three dimensional environment data for both fields of view can be generated. The optical element(s) can be static or moveable, with constant or dynamic motion patterns, to change the direction of the second field of view if desired for the application.

Apparatus for redirecting field of view of lidar scanner, and lidar scanner including same

Piloted or autonomous rotorcraft includes a rotor safety system. The rotor safety system comprises a lidar scanner toward a rotor of the rotorcraft, e.g., the tail rotor, that scans the 3D space in the vicinity of the rotor. Objects in the vicinity of the rotor are detected from the lidar point data. In a piloted rotorcraft, predictive warnings can be provided to the helicopter's flight crew when a detected object presents a hazard to the rotor of the rotorcraft.

Rotor safety system

An apparatus comprises a time-of-flight ranging sensor that scans in two or more directions relative to the apparatus over a series of scanning cycles. A processor computes, and to communicates to the time-of-flight ranging sensor, a pulse repetition rate (PRR) for the time-of-flight ranging sensor for each of the two or more directions based on information about surrounding terrain of the apparatus and a sensor pointing schedule for the time-of-flight ranging sensor that indicates directions that the time-of-flight ranging sensor is scheduled to point at time during the scanning cycles. In addition or lieu of computing the PRR, the processor(s) matches returns from pulses of the time-of-flight ranging sensor to the pulses probabilistically based on a current map of the vehicle's surroundings and scan coherence analysis for shapes in the returns. The current map can then be updated based on the matched returns for the next iteration.

Addressing multiple time around (MTA) ambiguities, particularly for lidar systems, and particularly for autonomous aircraft

A computerized, on-board flight system for an aircraft has a landing-zone evaluation system for evaluating a landing zone for the aircraft based on sensory data from numerous sensing systems, including lidar, radar, and/or various cameras, to identify potential, suitable landing sites in the landing zone. Based on data from these sensory systems, the landing-zone evaluation system geometrically and semantically evaluates the landing zone's terrain, as well as identifies moving and stationary objects in the landing zone to identify the suitable landing sites for the aircraft.

On-board, computerized landing zone evaluation system for aircraft

A golf training device may include a base having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface for placing on a surface; a ball positioning sensor positioned adjacent to the top surface; and a light source for transmitting visible light from the base, the light source being in operable communication with the ball positioning sensor to respond to a signal from the ball positioning sensor that a ball has been moved from a resting position to transmit light for a finite predetermined period of time after the ball is moved from the resting position. A method of training may include receiving a ball on a training device in a resting position; detecting the presence of the ball on the top surface; detecting that the ball has been moved; transmitting light from a light source for a predetermined period of time in response to detecting that the ball has been moved.

Golf training aid

A putting training device includes a base having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface for placing on a putting surface. The top surface is a tapered surface tapering to the putting surface. A ball receiving recess can be defined on the top surface. The device also includes a ball positioning sensor positioned adjacent to the ball receiving recess and a light source for transmitting light visible from the top surface of the base. The light source is in operable communication with the ball positioning sensor to respond to a signal from the ball positioning sensor that a ball has been impacted from the ball receiving recess. When the light source receives the signal from the ball positioning sensor, the light source will transmit light for a finite predetermined period of time after the ball is impacted from the ball receiving recess.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Lyle J Chamberlain