Modular miniature unmanned aircraft with vectored-thrust control

摘要

An aircraft for unmanned aviation is described. The aircraft includes an airframe, a pair of fins attached to a rear portion of the airframe, a pair of dihedral braces attached to a bottom portion of the airframe, a first thrust-vectoring (“T/V”) module and a second T/V module, and an electronics module. The electronics module provides commands to the two T/V modules. The two T/V modules are configured to provide lateral and longitudinal control to the aircraft by directly controlling a thrust vector for each of the pitch, the roll, and the yaw of the aircraft. The use of directly articulated electrical motors as T/V modules enables the aircraft to execute tight-radius turns over a wide range of airspeeds.

主权项

1. An aircraft for unmanned aviation, comprising:
an airframe having two or more recessed regions, each recessed region comprising an electrical interface and a passive retention mechanism; a payload module coupled to the airframe; a battery module configured to interface with the airframe and the payload module; two or more thrusters configured to interface with the payload module via the electrical interface, each of said two or more thrust vectoring modules being configured to passively couple to one of said two or more recessed regions via the passive retention mechanism; wherein said two or more thrust vectoring modules provide lateral and longitudinal control to the aircraft by directly controlling a thrust vector; and an electronics module configured to provide commands to the two or more thrust vectoring modules.