Lockheed Martin Corporation

Stephen Mitchell Jameson

Edward Henry Allen

Brian P Boesch

Robert J Szczerba

Jerry L Franke

Rosemary DeSantis Paradis

Adam L Jung

Brent Appleby

Kenneth Robert Whitebread

Joel J Tleon

Henry Hindle Mendenhall

Lori Ann Pridmore

A flying vehicle comprises an elongated airfoil having a first end and a second end defining a longitudinal axis, the first and second ends further defining an interior opening extending therebetween and terminating at an outlet port proximal the second end; a solid fuel engine includes a fuel combustion chamber proximal the first end of the airfoil; a first manifold is coupled to the fuel combustion chamber and configured to convey a pressurized gas generated by combustion of a solid fuel; wherein the interior opening conveys the pressurized gas from the first manifold to the outlet port proximal the second end and wherein the pressurized gas is exhausted at the outlet port substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the elongated airfoil, thereby producing thrust which imparts a rotational motion to the airfoil about a center of mass proximal to the first end, for thereby defining a rotor disk.

Active maple seed flyer

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a payload or body affixed at one end of an elongated airfoil. The entire airfoil/payload combination rotates about a center of mass to define a rotor disk. Thrust is provided by air-augmented rocket engine thrusting tangentially at a location remote from the payload. A control system maintains knowledge of its environment, as by a camera, to produce directional control signals which actuate lift control means in synchronism with the rotational position of the vehicle. A deployable object may be carried. Protection of the stowed vehicle is provided by blister packaging.

A system controls a team of vehicles. The system includes a plan dependency identifier, a contingency monitor, and an alert formulator. The plan dependency identifier analyzes a mission plan and identifies mission constraints of the mission plan. The contingency monitor continuously reviews execution of the mission plan for violations of the mission constraints. The alert formulator determines whether a part of the mission plan is threatened by a violation of one of the mission constraints.

Hierarchical contingency management system for mission planners

A system collaboratively and autonomously plans and controls a team of unmanned vehicles within an environment. A mission planning component creates a mission plan for a plurality of members of the team of unmanned vehicles. The mission planning component creates a task plan for each member based on the mission plan. A collaboration component assigns members to the team and roles for the assigned members. The collaboration component updates membership and roles of the members based on the changing situation of the environment. A situational awareness component evaluates the changing situation of the environment based on information from the assigned members of the team. A contingency management component monitors the changing situation of the environment. The contingency management component monitors changes of capabilities of the assigned members of the team and execution of the mission plan and task plans. The contingency management component determines whether to update any of the group consisting of the mission plan and the task plans. A vehicle management component controls movement of each assigned member based on the task plan of each assigned member.

Collaborative system for a team of unmanned vehicles

Communication is provided among plural nodes by a network having finite bandwidth between the nodes. The bandwidth may differ for each direction of propagation. Each node includes a processor for processing locally available data, including data derived locally and available through relatively high-bandwidth paths. When processing at any one of the nodes may be improved by incorporating into the data being processed information which is locally available at another node, at least one node is configured to know (a) the directional bandwidth from itself to the remote node(s) of the system, and (b) also to have knowledge, of the relative improvement to be realized at the first node by incorporation of data of the second node into the processing of the first node. The second node selects portions of its own local data for transmission to the first node which yield large improvement and can be transmitted within the available directional bandwidth. ()

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Wilmington, DE, United States of America

Stephen Mitchell Jameson