Ground station system with rotatable pedestal

An aircraft ground station system, comprising:

• an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
• a ground station including a landing pad configured to support the UAV;
• a rotatable pedestal assembly having a rotatable pedestal that supports the ground station;
• a wind sensor;
• and
• a controller operably coupled to the wind sensor and the rotatable pedestal assembly, the rotatable pedestal defining a rotation axis about which the rotatable pedestal rotates, the wind sensor configured to sense wind direction and communicate a signal indicative of a wind direction to the controller, the controller configured to cause the rotatable pedestal to rotate about the rotation axis, in response to the signal indicative of wind direction, to orient the landing pad based at least in part on the sensed wind direction.

An aircraft ground station system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the aircraft ground station system comprising:

• a ground station including a landing pad;
• a rotatable pedestal assembly having a rotatable pedestal that supports the ground station;
• a wind sensor;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
• sense, by the wind sensor, a wind direction and communicate a signal indicative of the wind direction to the processor;
• and
• selectively rotate the rotatable pedestal based on the signal to position the landing pad at an angular orientation relative to the wind direction that reduces crosswind acting on the UAV during landing.