Granted Patent B2

US 12,545,139 · App. 18/820,377 · Granted Feb 10, 2026

Inventors: John Charles Palombini (South Burlington, VT); Daniel Russell (South Burlington, VT)

Assignee: BETA AIR LLC

B60L53/66B60L53/37B60L53/68B64U50/37B64U50/38

Abstract

Claims (81)

1 . A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first time of arrival of an electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a first location of an aircraft landing facility;

receiving a first time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the first location;

receiving a second time of arrival of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a second location of the aircraft landing facility, the second location comprising an electric aircraft charging system;

receiving a second time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the second location;

determining a non-charging fee based at least in part on a non-charging rate associated with the first location, the first time of arrival, and the first time of departure;

determining a charging fee based at least in part on a charging rate associated with the second location, the second time of arrival, and the second time of departure, wherein the charging fee is associated with charging the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft using the electric aircraft charging system;

determining a total fee based at least in part on the non-charging fee and the charging fee; and

communicating the total fee to a user device.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving an image representing at least a portion of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location based at least in part on the image.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the image; and

associating the first time of arrival with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the image is received from a thermal imaging camera.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving a wireless communication from the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location based at least in part on the wireless communication.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein:

the wireless communication is an automatic broadcast transmitted by the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft and indicating the first location; and

receiving the first time of arrival comprises determining the first time of arrival based at least in part on a time of receipt of the automatic broadcast.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein:

the wireless communication is Wi-Fi signal transmitted by the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft and comprising a MAC ID address; and

the operations further comprise:

determining an identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the MAC ID address; and

associating the first time of arrival with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

8 . A method, comprising:

receiving, at a at a computing device, a first time of arrival of an electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a first location of an aircraft landing facility;

receiving, at the computing device, a first time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the first location;

receiving, at the computing device, a second time of arrival of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a second location of the aircraft landing facility, the second location comprising a vehicle charging system;

receiving, at the computing device, a second time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the second location;

determining, at the computing device, a non-charging fee based at least in part on a non-charging rate associated with the first location, the first time of arrival, and the first time of departure;

determining, at the computing device, a charging fee based at least in part on a charging rate associated with the second location, the second time of arrival, and the second time of departure, wherein the charging fee is associated with charging the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft using the vehicle charging system;

determining, at the computing device, a total fee based at least in part on the non-charging fee and the charging fee; and

communicating the total fee from the computing device to a user device.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the second time of arrival comprises:

receiving a communication from an electric aircraft charging system at the second location; and

determining at least one of the second time of arrival or the second location based at least in part on the communication.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining an identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the communication; and

associating the second time of arrival with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving a radio communication from the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location based at least in part on the radio communication.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein determining at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location comprises analyzing speech represented by the radio communication to determine at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving a communication from a database;

determining an identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the communication; and

associating the first time of arrival with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the communication comprises a flight plan associated with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

15 . An apparatus for aircraft tracking, comprising:

a computing device configured to perform operations comprising:

determining a first time of arrival of an electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a first location of an aircraft landing facility;

determining a first time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the first location;

determining a second time of arrival of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft at a second location of the aircraft landing facility, the second location comprising a vehicle charging system;

determining a second time of departure of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft from the second location;

determining a non-charging fee based at least in part on a non-charging rate associated with the first location, the first time of arrival, and the first time of departure;

determining a charging fee based at least in part on a charging rate associated with the second location, the second time of arrival, and the second time of departure, wherein the charging fee is associated with charging the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft using the vehicle charging system;

determining a total fee based at least in part on the non-charging fee and the charging fee; and

transmitting the total fee to a user device.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein determining the first time of arrival comprises:

obtaining an image representing at least a portion of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft;

determining the first time of arrival based at least in part on the image;

determining an identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the image using optical character recognition; and

associating the first time of arrival with the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft based at least in part on the identifier of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein determining the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving a wireless communication from the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining the first location based at least in part on at least one of a digital fingerprint of the wireless communication or a signal strength of the wireless communication.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein determining the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving a near field communication from the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining the first time of arrival comprises determining the first time of arrival based at least in part on a time of receipt of the near field communication.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein determining the first time of arrival comprises:

obtaining an image representing at least a portion of the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft; and

determining the first location based at least in part on an analysis of the image.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein determining the first time of arrival comprises:

receiving a radio communication from the electric or hybrid-electric aircraft;

generating text data based at least in part on analyzing speech represented by the radio communication; and

determining at least one of the first time of arrival or the first location based at least in part on the text data.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (10)