Lockheed Martin Corporation

Design and control of electromechanical or hydraulic actuators for moving aircraft components like wing tips, control surfaces, or landing gear, often focusing on efficiency, redundancy, or specific operational profiles.

Mechanisms and algorithms designed to enhance the stability, precision, and safety of drone flight, including damping systems, rotor dynamics, fault-tolerant control, and transition between flight modes.

Systems and methods for ensuring robust and reliable aircraft control, often involving multiple control computers, adaptive control laws, or sophisticated pilot input interfaces, especially in the presence of failures or environmental disturbances.

Integration of electric motors, power generation, and distribution systems for propelling aircraft, including components for coupling motors to propellers and managing electrical power.

Systems and methods for electronically steering or shaping antenna beams by controlling the phase and amplitude of signals fed to individual elements in an array, including calibration techniques and multi-antenna configurations.

Innovations in aircraft airframe design, material usage, and aerodynamic surfaces to improve performance characteristics such as weight, rigidity, short take-off/landing capabilities, or stall resistance.

Systems and methods for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing the movement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft, including real-time connectivity, flight planning, and route modification.

Design and manufacturing techniques for incorporating antenna structures directly into electronic devices, product housings, or materials, often under constraints of space, aesthetics, or environmental factors.

Antennas engineered to operate effectively across a wide continuous range of frequencies (broadband) or multiple distinct frequency bands, often requiring specific radiating element geometries or impedance matching circuits.

Technologies for detecting operational parameters, monitoring component health, and diagnosing malfunctions in aircraft using various sensors and data analysis, often employing AI/ML.

Techniques for building three-dimensional metal objects layer-by-layer using metal powders, including powder bed fusion, binder jetting, and directed energy deposition. This theme encompasses process mechanics, equipment design, and operational control for AM systems.

Drone propulsion and power architectures combining multiple energy sources, such as internal combustion engines, electric motors, batteries, and generators, to extend flight duration, range, or payload capacity.

Techniques and structures used to reduce unwanted electromagnetic coupling, scattering, or interference between multiple antennas, different frequency bands, or sensitive electronic components within a device.

Systems and methods for using drones equipped with various sensors (optical, chemical, LiDAR) to collect data for monitoring environmental conditions, inspecting infrastructure, or assessing agricultural assets.

Development of sophisticated optical lens assemblies and computational methods to achieve high-resolution, precise, or specialized imaging, often for medical or scientific applications.

Design and integration of bearings within larger mechanical systems or devices, focusing on mounting structures, housing, endplay management, and overall assembly for specific applications.

Innovations in the physical components and architectures of radar, lidar, and sonar systems, including antenna design, RF signal generation, beam steering mechanisms, and optical elements for improved performance.

Methods and structures for integrating and enclosing electronic components into compact, multi-functional modules, often involving embedded components, multi-layer substrates, and electromagnetic shielding for performance and miniaturization.

Bearings that utilize a pressurized gas or liquid film to create a non-contact support surface, reducing friction and wear, often incorporating specific flow restriction or airfoil designs.

Systems for coordinating multiple drones, managing their operations within an airspace, including real-time connectivity, traffic management, and task allocation for cooperative missions.

Algorithms and systems for generating, optimizing, and executing trajectories for autonomous vehicles or robots to move through an environment, often involving obstacle avoidance, route validation, and goal reaching.

Integration of additive manufacturing with subtractive manufacturing (e.g., machining, cutting) or other traditional processes within a single system or workflow to create parts with improved features, surface finish, or material properties, or to enable new manufacturing paradigms.

Technologies for non-contact measurement of distance, position, or 3D properties of a target object, often involving active emission and detection of light or radio frequency waves, including target tracking.

Engineering of artificial subwavelength structures (meta-atoms) to create metasurfaces that manipulate light properties (phase, polarization, wavelength) for multi-functional optical devices.

Systems and methods for real-time sensing, modeling, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing parameters to ensure part quality, consistency, and process efficiency. This includes thermal management, atmospheric regulation, and precise material deposition.

Systems and methods that utilize optical fibers as sensing elements or for transmitting sensing signals, often for distributed monitoring of environmental conditions, phase changes, or integrating sensing with communication.

Techniques and systems for measuring three-dimensional shapes, depths, or surface profiles using optical principles, including diffraction, interferometry, structured light, and imaging.

Technologies for storing, managing pressure, and safely distributing hydrogen fuel within an aircraft, including tank integration, pressure control, and leak detection.

Methods and systems for accurately determining the absolute or relative position of an object or device, often integrating satellite navigation (GNSS), inertial measurement units (IMU), and local ranging or wireless communication technologies.

Systems that combine light sources, waveguides, and display elements into unified products for backlighting, automotive applications, general lighting, or color-corrected displays.

Techniques for combining data from disparate sensor types (e.g., cameras, radar, mobile device signals) to achieve a more robust and comprehensive understanding of an environment or subject, often leveraging machine learning for interpretation and correlation.

Mechanical assemblies designed to enable controlled rotational movement between components, often incorporating locking features, speed reduction, or eccentric adjustments for precise positioning.

Improvements to the internal components and configurations of rolling element bearings, such as cage designs, separator materials, raceway geometry, or adjustable elements, to enhance performance or lifespan.

Systems and methods for accurately measuring and compensating for position, orientation, and movement errors in mechanical systems, often for manufacturing, robotics, or optical alignment.

Techniques and hardware for autonomous systems to gather and interpret data about their surroundings, including obstacle detection, object recognition, and depth estimation, to inform control decisions.

Manufacturing processes and material compositions for creating electronic circuits on flexible or conformable substrates, enabling novel form factors, enhanced durability, and new applications beyond rigid PCBs.

Integrated systems that combine multiple types of measurements (e.g., dimensional, thermal, strain, flow) to monitor and control industrial processes, structural integrity, or product quality.

Design and assembly of power conversion, distribution, and protection modules, focusing on compact form factors, efficient electrical connections, and robust protective measures for electronic systems, often in high-power applications.

Systems designed to regulate the flow, pressure, and distribution of non-fuel gases and fluids within aircraft, such as cabin air, oxygen supply, or pneumatic actuation systems.

Technologies enabling dynamic control over electromagnetic wave propagation using arrays of passive or active elements (unit cells) to reflect, refract, or absorb signals, often for channel optimization or energy efficiency.

Computational methods and design principles for generating optimized geometries, internal structures (e.g., lattices, minimal surfaces), or functional features that are specifically enabled or enhanced by the capabilities of additive manufacturing.

The design and manufacturing of integrated circuits that combine optical and electronic components, particularly for high-speed data communication between processors and memory.

Methods and materials used to construct robust and protective enclosures for electronic devices, focusing on structural integrity, impact resistance, thermal dissipation, and specialized material properties for enhanced durability.