Methods and apparatus to deploy and recover a fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle via a non-fixed wing aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10133272-B2
Application number	US-201514706723-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2015
Priority date	May 7, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to deploy and recover a fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle via a non-fixed wing aircraft are described herein. An example method includes tracking a location of a non-fixed wing aircraft in flight, tracking a location of a fixed wing aircraft in flight, positioning the non-fixed wing aircraft relative to the fixed wing aircraft based on the locations of the non-fixed wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft and coupling, via a gripper, the fixed wing aircraft to the non-fixed wing aircraft in mid-flight at a recovery location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
tracking a location of a non-fixed wing aircraft in flight;
tracking a location of a fixed wing aircraft in flight;
positioning the non-fixed wing aircraft relative to the fixed wing aircraft based on the locations of the non-fixed wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft;
performing, with the fixed wing aircraft, a first upward pitch maneuver that causes the fixed wing aircraft to stall to decrease a speed of the fixed wing aircraft prior to coupling the non-fixed wing aircraft to the fixed wing aircraft;
performing, with the non-fixed wing aircraft, a second upward pitch maneuver that matches a pitch angle of the fixed wing aircraft in the first upward pitch maneuver; and
while the fixed wing aircraft performs the first upward pitch maneuver, closing a gripper, carried on the non-fixed wing aircraft, onto a wing of the fixed wing aircraft in mid-flight.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the fixed wing aircraft is a first distance from the non-fixed wing aircraft, tracking the locations of the non-fixed wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft includes using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to track the locations of the non-fixed wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein, when the fixed wing aircraft is a second distance from the non-fixed wing aircraft, tracking the location of the fixed wing aircraft includes using an infrared (IR) sensor to track the location of the fixed wing aircraft.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second distance is less than the first distance.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein using the GPS includes using a differential Global Positioning System (DGPS).

6. The method of claim 2 further including communicating the location of the fixed wing aircraft to a remote communications station when the fixed wing aircraft is the first distance from the non-fixed wing aircraft.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fixed wing aircraft and the non-fixed wing aircraft are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

8. An apparatus comprising:
a non-fixed wing aircraft having a gripper; and
a processor to:
determine a location of the non-fixed wing aircraft;
determine a location of a fixed wing aircraft to be retrieved by the non-fixed wing aircraft;
instruct the non-fixed wing aircraft to a position relative to the fixed wing aircraft;
instruct the fixed wing aircraft to perform a first upward pitch maneuver that causes the fixed wing aircraft to stall to slow the fixed wing aircraft prior to coupling the non-fixed wing aircraft to the fixed wing aircraft;
instruct the non-fixed wing aircraft to perform a second upward pitch maneuver that matches a pitch angle of the fixed wing aircraft in the first upward pitch maneuver; and
instruct the non-fixed wing aircraft to close the gripper onto a wing of the fixed wing aircraft while the fixed wing aircraft performs the first upward pitch maneuver and the non-fixed wing aircraft performs the second upward pitch maneuver.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is to determine the locations of the non-fixed wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft based on coordinates from a Global Positioning System (GPS) when the fixed wing aircraft is a first distance from the non-fixed wing aircraft.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the non-fixed wing aircraft includes an infrared (IR) camera.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is to determine the location of the fixed wing aircraft based on coordinates from the IR camera when the fixed wing aircraft is a second distance from the non-fixed wing aircraft, the second distance less than the first distance.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is located at a remote communications station.

13. A method comprising:
instructing a fixed wing aircraft to fly towards an area in which the fixed wing aircraft is to be recovered;
tracking a location of the fixed wing aircraft using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver in the fixed wing aircraft when the fixed wing aircraft is within a first range of a non-fixed wing aircraft;
determining when the fixed wing aircraft is within a second range of the non-fixed wing aircraft, the second range less than the first range;
tracking the location of the fixed wing aircraft using an infrared (IR) camera, carried by the non -fixed wing aircraft, when the fixed wing aircraft is determined to be within the second range of the non-fixed wing aircraft; and
retrieving the fixed wing aircraft with the non-fixed wing aircraft mid-flight by:
instructing the fixed wing aircraft to perform a first upward pitch maneuver to cause the fixed wing aircraft to stall to decrease a speed of the fixed wing aircraft prior to coupling the non-fixed wing aircraft to the fixed wing aircraft;
instructing the non-fixed wing aircraft to perform a second upward pitch maneuver that matches a pitch angle of the fixed wing aircraft in the first upward pitch maneuver; and
instructing the non-fixed wing aircraft to close a gripper, carried by the non-fixed wing aircraft, onto the fixed wing aircraft while the fixed wing aircraft is pitched upward.

14. The method of claim 13 further including:
positioning the non-fixed wing aircraft relative to the fixed wing aircraft based on the location of the fixed wing aircraft.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein a first wing of the fixed wing aircraft is darker in color than a second wing of the fixed wing aircraft such that the IR camera can detect the location of the fixed wing aircraft in the second range.

Assignees

• Insitu Inc A Subsidiary Of The Boeing Company
• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Davidson Darcy

Classifications

• G01S19/071 Primary

  DGPS corrections · CPC title

• B64U70/30

  for capturing UAVs in flight by ground or sea-based arresting gear, e.g. by a cable or a net · CPC title

• B64U70/20

  for releasing or capturing UAVs in flight by another aircraft · CPC title

• B64D5/00 Primary

  Aircraft transported by aircraft, e.g. for release or reberthing during flight · CPC title

• G01S19/13

  Receivers · CPC title