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US 11,299,269 B2Granted
High altitude, long endurance, unmanned aircraft and methods of operation thereof
AssigneeAeroVironment, Inc.
InventorEdward Oscar Rios
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments include one or more high altitude, long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft capable of persistent station-keeping having one or more electromagnetic (IR/Visual/RF) sensor elements or suites for purposes of survey and/or signal gathering. Embodiments include one or more high altitude, long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft capable of persistent station-keeping having a directable laser. Embodiments include a group of four or more high altitude, long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft configured as GPS repeaters.
Claims20
A method of global positioning system (GPS) signal augmentation comprising:
- deploying a group of two or more high altitude, long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft, each unmanned aircraft comprising a GPS antenna, GPS receiver, and a GPS repeater;
- receiving, by at least two of the group of two or more HALE unmanned aircraft, a GPS signal from a respective GPS satellite;
- forming, by each of the at least two of the group of two or more HALE unmanned aircraft respectively, a repeatable received GPS signal for transmission;
- determining communication interdiction by positioning the two or more HALE unmanned aircraft, wherein a second HALE unmanned aircraft transmits an interdiction assessment to a first HALE unmanned aircraft;
- and
- transmitting, by each of the group of two or more HALE unmanned aircraft respectively, a translated GPS signal in an auxiliary frequency band for transmission based on the received GPS signal and the determined communication interdiction.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.