US 12,168,533 B1
Autonomous unmanned aircraft system
Brian L. Hinman, Carmel Valley, CA (US); Bryan K. Brown, Portland, OR (US); and Muhammad Mubeen Javaid, Punjab (PK)
Assigned to SiFly Aviation, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by SiFly Aviation, Inc., Monte Sereno, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 18, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/416,787.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/439,720, filed on Jan. 18, 2023.
Int. Cl. B64U 50/37 (2023.01); B64U 70/97 (2023.01)
CPC B64U 50/37 (2023.01) [B64U 70/97 (2023.01)] 26 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:
a body;
a set of vertical lift rotors rotatably mounted to the body;
a corresponding set of electric motors mounted to the body and coupled to the set of vertical lift rotors;
a set of rechargeable battery modules mounted to the body and configured to electrically couple to the set of electric motors;
a plurality of photodetectors; and
a flight control system, comprising a precision landing receiver and a flight controller, the system configured to recognize a pulse sequence received by the plurality of photodetectors and distinguish the pulse sequence from ambient illumination;
wherein the flight controller is coupled to the body, the set of electric motors, the set of vertical lift rotors, and the plurality of photodetectors, and comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions to cause the processor to:
use the pulse sequence to estimate a current location of the autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle relative to a landing position; and
based on the pulse sequence, cause operation of the set of electric motors and the set of vertical lift rotors to land the unmanned autonomous vehicle in proximity of the landing position.