Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) small unmanned aerial system for monitoring oil and gas pipelines

A system comprising:

• an aircraft, including:
• a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;
• a control system for controlling flight of the aircraft autonomously;
• a sensor section;
• and
• a power manager unit;
• and
• a docking platform, including:
• a data exchange unit, wherein the data exchange unit communicates with the sensor section of the aircraft during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform;
• a power supply unit that supplies power to the power manager unit of the aircraft during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform;
• and
• a thermal wire mesh for maintaining all-weather operability of the platform with the aircraft.

A method comprising:

• controlling, both autonomously and from a remote operator location, an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;
• operating sensors from the aircraft along a flight path of the aircraft, wherein:
• operating the sensors further comprises detecting a level of gas in the atmosphere along the flight path;
• linking the aircraft to a network providing cloud computing for in-situ evaluation of the detected level of gas in the atmosphere along the flight path;
• recording data from the sensors;
• autonomously landing the aircraft at a docking platform;
• communicating the recorded data from the aircraft to the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform;
• and
• recharging aircraft batteries from a power supply provided by the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform.

A method comprising:

• controlling, both autonomously and from a remote operator location, an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;
• using GPS positioning guidance to direct the aircraft to a desired location of a pipeline;
• operating sensors from the aircraft along a flight path of the aircraft;
• recording data from the sensors, including:
• recording high resolution thermal and optical images by the aircraft;
• autonomously landing the aircraft at a docking platform;
• communicating the recorded data from the aircraft to the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform;
• and
• recharging aircraft batteries from a power supply provided by the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform.

A method comprising:

• controlling, both autonomously and from a remote operator location, an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;
• operating sensors from the aircraft along a flight path of the aircraft, including:
• collecting a volume of gas with a gas collection fixture mounted on the aircraft, and
• injecting the gas into a gas detector unit for detection and analysis;
• recording data from the sensors;
• autonomously landing the aircraft at a docking platform;
• communicating the recorded data from the aircraft to the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform;
• and
• recharging aircraft batteries from a power supply provided by the docking platform during docking of the aircraft at the docking platform.

A method of autonomous landing of a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) aircraft, comprising:

• autonomously landing the sUAS aircraft using global positioning system (GPS) on a landing platform large enough to compensate for inaccuracy in GPS positioning;
• providing guidance of the sUAS aircraft toward the center of the landing platform using the shape of the landing platform;
• and
• moving the sUAS aircraft using a force toward the center of the landing platform under the shape-provided guidance, to a position that provides electrical contacts for charging a battery of the sUAS aircraft.