Patent ID: 9214089
Filing Date: 2015-12-15
Classification: G01S,G05D,G08G

Abstract:
1. An aircraft capable of hovering, comprising: a fuselage; a rotor mounted onto the top of said fuselage and which may rotate about an axis; a drive shaft projecting from said fuselage and for driving said rotor; a plurality of sensors, wherein said plurality of sensors surround said drive shaft and each of the plurality of sensors having a plane sweep region and designed, when said aircraft is maneuvering, to acquire values of respective distances between first points on an obstacle within the plane sweep region, and a second point on said aircraft, said second point being defined by the intersection of said axis with the plane of said rotor, and said sweep regions being substantially parallel to the plane of said rotor, during the hovering of said aircraft; a control unit designed to generate an acoustic and/or visual alarm signal when at least one of said first points lies within a safety region containing said second point on said aircraft, and said control unit is designed to determine a recommended backoff direction from said obstacle on the basis of said acquired values; and an autopilot system for automatically controlling the aircraft, said control unit being designed to control said autopilot system, on the basis of said acquired values, to pull said aircraft back from said obstacle when at least one of said first points lies within said safety region wherein said autopilot system is controllable by said control unit to move said aircraft away from said obstacle in a direction parallel to said recommended backoff direction.