The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

Top Flight Technologies, Inc.

Scott A Rasmussen

Sanjay Emani Sarma

Long N Phan

Robert A Larsen

Paul A DeBitetto

Paul DeBitetto

Nicholas Alexander Zervoglos

Marc Steven Weinberg

Juha-Pekka J Laine

Francis J Rogomentich

David W Carter

This document describes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to navigate an unmanned aerial vehicle highway. The UAV includes a navigation system that includes a sensor, configured to gather environmental data, and a computing system configured to navigate the UAV. The computing system compares the environmental data to a specified data signature in the one or more spectra and determines a position of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the unmanned aerial vehicle highway. The UAV includes a hybrid generator system including an engine configured to generate mechanical energy and a generator motor coupled to the engine and configured to generate electrical energy from the mechanical energy generated by the engine. The UAV includes a rotor motor configured to drive a propeller to rotate. The navigation system is powered by the electrical energy generated by the generator motor.

Navigation system for a drone

An optical assembly for three-dimensional image capture includes first and second optical channels that are fixed with respect to one another. Each channel is configured to direct light onto at least a portion of an image sensor. The first and second optical channels each include an aperture for receiving the light, an objective lens for focusing the light into an intermediate image on an intermediate image plane, and an eyepiece lens for collimating the intermediate image.

Long focal length monocular 3D imager

A guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system guides an aircraft based on a special partial differential equation (PDE). The system does not depend on a predetermined desired flight path. To overcome effects of unpredictable wind speed and direction, systems and methods effectively repeatedly determine the worst landing the wind can cause and issue flight control commands that minimize among these worst outcomes. A function C that satisfies the PDE calculates smallest miss distance a guidance system can bring about by appropriately steering an aircraft, given the aircraft's current heading, current location relative to a target and current remaining amount of time to fly. The system repeatedly determines at least a component of a current gradient of the function C. A value of the gradient component is used to select an appropriate flight control command, such as turn left or turn right.

Aircraft guidance based on partial differential equation for miss distance

A computer input device includes, in one embodiment, at least two accelerometers, at least two gyroscopes, and a processor within a housing. Signals from the accelerometers and the gyroscopes are utilized to determine the relative motion of the computer input device.

Computer input device with inertial instruments

A non-contact passive ranging system wherein a first imager on a platform is focused on a first object and a second imager on the platform is also focused on the first object. The optical path from the first object to the first imager is configured to be shorter than the optical path from the object to the second imager. Processing circuitry is responsive to an output of the first imager and an output of the second imager as relative motion is provided between the platform and the first object and is configured to calculate the distance from the platform to the object.

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Framingham, MA, United States of America

Scott A Rasmussen