Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system including field-portable housing with internal chambers and related methods
AssigneeEagle Technology, LLC
InventorsDavid Lopez, Hugh McFadden, James Cornett, Bruce Yancy, Randy Bolling
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Abstract
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system may include UAVs. Each UAV may include a body and at least one deployable blade coupled thereto. The UAV system may also include a field-portable housing having internal chambers receiving respective UAVs therein, and elevators carried by the field-portable housing and associated with respective internal chambers. Each elevator may be configured to move a respective UAV between lowered and raised positions.
Claims20
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system comprising:
- a plurality of UAVs, each UAV comprising a body and at least one deployable propulsion blade coupled to the body to define a vertically-profiled UAV;
- a field-portable housing having a plurality of internal chambers receiving respective UAVs in the plurality of internal chambers;
- a plurality of tubular silos carried by the field-portable housing and defining the plurality of internal chambers, each tubular silo sized to receive a corresponding vertically-profiled UAV therein with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted;
- and
- a plurality of elevators each carried within a corresponding one of the plurality of tubular silos and each elevator configured to move a respective vertically-profiled UAV between lowered and raised positions within the corresponding tubular silo with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system comprising:
- a field-portable housing having a plurality of internal chambers receiving respective ones of a plurality of UAVs in the plurality of internal chambers, each UAV comprising a body and at least one deployable propulsion blade coupled to the body to define a vertically-profiled UAV;
- a plurality of tubular silos carried by the field-portable housing and defining the plurality of internal chambers, each tubular silo sized to receive a corresponding vertically-profiled UAV therein with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted;
- and
- a plurality of elevators carried within a corresponding one of the plurality of tubular silos and each elevator configured to move a respective vertically-profiled UAV between lowered and raised positions within the corresponding tubular silo with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted.
A method of operating a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each UAV comprising a body and at least one deployable propulsion blade coupled to the body to define a vertically-profiled UAV, the method comprising:
- storing the plurality of vertically-profiled UAVs in a plurality of tubular silos carried by a field-portable housing having a plurality of internal chambers defined by the plurality of tubular silos and receiving respective ones of a plurality of UAVs in the plurality of internal chambers, each tubular silo sized to receive a corresponding vertically-profiled UAV therein with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted;
- and
- operating a plurality of elevators each associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of tubular silos to move respective vertically-profiled UAVs between lowered and raised positions within the corresponding tubular silo with the at least one deployable propulsion blade retracted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.