Unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

A UAV comprises a camera arrangement configurable such that a field of view of the camera arrangement includes airspace directly above the UAV, a lighting arrangement configurable in an upwards-facing configuration, and a controller operable to cause the lighting arrangement to illuminate an object in the airspace directly above the UAV.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A drone, comprising:
 a controller configured to control an upwards-facing lighting arrangement of the drone to emit flashing, visible light to illuminate airspace directly above the drone based on data received from a control device of a human operator of the drone.   
     
     
         2 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the upwards-facing lighting arrangement has a fixed orientation. 
     
     
         3 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the upwards-facing lighting arrangement has a single upwards-facing light source. 
     
     
         4 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the upwards-facing lighting arrangement comprises a light-emitting diode, LED. 
     
     
         5 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the drone comprises a power source and a motor, and wherein the power source is arranged to power both the upwards-facing lighting arrangement and the motor. 
     
     
         6 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the upwards-facing lighting arrangement to emit the flashing, visible light while the drone is in-flight. 
     
     
         7 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the received data comprises an illumination request. 
     
     
         8 . The drone of  claim 1 , wherein the drone is a quadcopter. 
     
     
         9 . The drone of  claim 1 , comprising a further upwards-facing arrangement configured to capture electromagnetic radiation from directly above the drone. 
     
     
         10 . The drone of  claim 9 , wherein the further upwards-facing arrangement is configured to capture infrared. 
     
     
         11 . The drone of  claim 9 , wherein the further upwards-facing arrangement is configured to capture visible light. 
     
     
         12 . The drone of  claim 9 , wherein the further upwards-facing arrangement comprises a single camera. 
     
     
         13 . The drone of  claim 9 , wherein the further upwards-facing arrangement has a fixed orientation. 
     
     
         14 . The drone of  claim 9 , wherein the further upwards-facing arrangement has a dynamic orientation. 
     
     
         15 . The drone of  claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust the orientation of the further upwards-facing arrangement in-flight. 
     
     
         16 . A control device configured to control a drone, the drone comprising (a) an upwards-facing and/or downwards-facing lighting arrangement configured to emit flashing, visible light and (b) a controller, wherein the control device is configured to transmit data to the drone to cause the controller of the drone to control the upwards-facing and/or downwards-facing lighting arrangement to emit the flashing, visible light based on the data transmitted from the control device of the drone. 
     
     
         17 . A drone, comprising an interior-facing lighting arrangement arranged to illuminate an interior of a body of the drone and/or a camera arrangement configurable to have a field of view including the interior of the body of the drone.