Patent ID: 11971717
Assignee: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B  F | IPC B  F  G

Claim 0:
1. A method of guiding an unmanned aircraft to a target, the aircraft defining a forward-looking field of view and a side-looking field of view, the aircraft including a wing system configured to carry the majority of the aircraft weight when in flight, the aircraft including a plurality of control surfaces configured to control aircraft pitch, aircraft roll and aircraft yaw in flight, the aircraft including a camera characterized by a camera field of view, wherein the camera is provided with camera actuators that rotate a camera orientation relative to the aircraft, along a single degree of freedom, between a forward-looking camera orientation aligned with the forward-looking field of view and a side-looking camera orientation aligned with the side-looking field of view, and the aircraft including a control system programmed to control the control surfaces to fly the aircraft, and further programmed to control the camera actuators to change the camera orientation along the single degree of freedom, comprising:
flying the aircraft with a flight vector, an aircraft orientation, and a camera orientation, such that the target is visible in the camera field of view with the camera in the side-looking camera orientation;
establishing a positive identification of the target in the camera field of view with the camera in the side-looking camera orientation; and
initiating a commit function of the control system;
wherein the commit function places the target within the forward-looking field of view by actuating the control surfaces to induce uncoordinated aircraft rotation along the single degree of freedom;
wherein the commit function maintains the positive identification throughout the uncoordinated aircraft rotation by activating the camera actuators to adjust the camera orientation; and
wherein, with the target within the forward-looking field of view, the commit function controls the flight of the unmanned aircraft to the target by actuating the control surfaces.