초록 ▼

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a toroidal fuselage and a rotor assembly having a pair of counter-rotating rotors secured in fixed coaxial combination with the toroidal fuselage to provide a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability for the UAV. One embodiment of the VTOL UAV is especially

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a toroidal fuselage and a rotor assembly having a pair of counter-rotating rotors secured in fixed coaxial combination with the toroidal fuselage to provide a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability for the UAV. One embodiment of the VTOL UAV is especially configured for ground surveillance missions by the inclusion of an externally mounted, remotely controllable stowable sensor subsystem that provides an azimuthal scanning capability and a predetermined elevation/depression scanning capability to accomplish the ground surveillance mission and a foldable landing gear subsystem to facilitate landing of the VTOL UAV at unprepared ground surveillance sites.

대표청구항 ▼

An unmanned aerial vehicle for a ground surveillance mission, comprising: a toroidal fuselage; a rotor assembly including a pair of counter-rotating rotors, said rotor assembly being secured in fixed coaxial combination with said toroidal fuselage and operative to provide lift, pitch, yaw, and roll

An unmanned aerial vehicle for a ground surveillance mission, comprising: a toroidal fuselage; a rotor assembly including a pair of counter-rotating rotors, said rotor assembly being secured in fixed coaxial combination with said toroidal fuselage and operative to provide lift, pitch, yaw, and roll control to provide vertical takeoff and landing and translational flight capabilities for said unmanned aerial vehicle a landing gear subsystem secured in combination with said toroidal fuselage to facilitate landing of said unmanned aerial vehicle at unprepared ground surveillance sites; and a sensor subsystem that provides an azimuthal scanning capability and a predetermined elevation/depression scanning capability to accomplish the ground surveillance mission, said sensor subsystem including a sensor pod having at least one sensor mounted therein which is operable to provide sensor data in accomplishment of the ground surveillance mission, and a mounting assembly for mounting said sensor pod in external combination with said toroidal fuselage, said mounting assembly being operative to reconfigure said sensor subsystem to a deployed configuration for accomplishment of the ground surveillance mission and to reconfigure said sensor subsystem to a stowed configuration for transportability of said unmanned aerial vehicle.