Autonomous, electric vehicle for aviation-related applications

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle includes a chassis for housing an aircraft ground contacting structure (GCS) and one or more GCS coupling and lifting mechanisms, GCS securing mechanisms, drivetrain, batteries and a sensor stack for performing autonomous navigation. Further, the vehicle incorporates multiple sensors, such as high-resolution machine vision cameras, GPS modules, Lidars, ultrasonic range sensors, and radars. The sensors deliver spatial perception capabilities to the vehicle and feed relevant data to onboard computing units to achieve location-based navigation, precision alignment with aircraft, obstacle detection and collision avoidance capabilities. A series of batteries deliver power to all components, including but not limited to, motors, electromechanical units, onboard computers, sensors and any other component requiring electrical input. External ports allow the vehicle to recharge batteries after each utilization cycle without replacement. The vehicle is capable of recognizing its power state and can autonomously navigate to a base station and dock itself for charging.