公开(公告)号：US20180237276A1

公开(公告)日：2018-08-23

申请号：US15955388

申请日：2018-04-17

Applicant: X Development LLC

Inventor： Joshua John Bialkowski ,  John Roberts ,  Abraham Bachrach

IPC: B66D1/48 ,  B64D1/22 ,  B64D1/08 ,  B66C13/06 ,  B64C39/02

CPC classification number: B66D1/485 ,  B64C39/024 ,  B64C2201/128 ,  B64C2201/141 ,  B64C2201/146 ,  B64D1/22 ,  B66C13/06 ,  G05D1/0858

Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including a winch system, wherein the winch system includes a single winch line, wherein a payload is suspended from a first end of the winch line, and the winch system is controllable to vary the rate of ascent of the payload to the UAV, and a control system including a processor and program instructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the processor to control the winch, the control system configured to (a) receive data regarding oscillations of the payload, and (b) operate the winch system to vary a retraction rate of the winch line to damp oscillations of the payload during ascent of the payload to the UAV.

公开(公告)号：US10023323B1

公开(公告)日：2018-07-17

申请号：US14699058

申请日：2015-04-29

Applicant: X Development LLC

Inventor： Richard Joseeph William Roberts ,  Joshua John Bialkowski ,  Justin Sadowski ,  John Roberts

IPC: B64D43/00 ,  B64C39/02

Abstract: Embodiments are described for determining wind by an airborne aerial vehicle without reliance on direct measurements of airspeed by the vehicle. Instead, wind may be computationally estimated using disclosed techniques for utilizing measurements of only ground-speed and heading, or only measurements of forces experienced by the airborne aerial vehicle during flight. In one technique, samples of ground-speed measurements and corresponding heading measurements of an airborne vehicle are used in a mathematical optimization of a wind-driven hypothesis of deviations between the two types of measurement at each of multiple sampling times. In another technique, an aerodynamic model of an aerial vehicle can be used to adjust parameters of a wind hypothesis in order to achieve a best-fit between predicted and measured forces on the aerial vehicle during flight.

公开(公告)号：US09981834B2

公开(公告)日：2018-05-29

申请号：US15222150

申请日：2016-07-28

Applicant: X Development LLC

Inventor： Joshua John Bialkowski ,  John Roberts ,  Abraham Bachrach

IPC: B66D1/48 ,  B66C13/06 ,  B64D1/08 ,  B64C39/02 ,  B64D1/22

CPC classification number: B66D1/485 ,  B64C39/024 ,  B64C2201/128 ,  B64C2201/141 ,  B64C2201/146 ,  B64D1/08 ,  B64D1/22 ,  B66C13/06 ,  G05D1/0858

Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) including a winch system, wherein the winch system includes a winch line having a first end that is secured to the payload, and wherein the winch system is controllable to vary the rate of descent of the payload, an inertial measurement unit positioned on the payload or on the first end of the winch line, wherein the inertial measurement unit is configured to measure oscillations of the payload, and a control system configured to (a) receive data from the IMU, (b) determine oscillations of the payload based on the data received from the IMU, and (c) operate the winch system to vary the deployment rate of the winch line so to damp oscillations of the payload.