System and method for detecting vehicle anomalies during ground travel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10132709-B2
Application number	US-201514826717-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2015
Priority date	Aug 14, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A system for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel includes at least one inertial sensor sensing a pitch or a roll of a vehicle and outputting at least one of a pitch or a roll value; a computing device having a processor and a memory and an input coupled to an input and monitoring module, where said input and monitoring module receives one of the pitch or roll values output by the at least one inertial sensor, and said computing system further having a measuring module measuring an oscillation based on one of the output pitch or roll values and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value based on a comparison between an expected oscillation and the measured oscillation; said computing device having an output to an alert module that outputs an alert signal through said output if the adjusted center of gravity is outside of a predetermined threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel comprising:
at least one inertial sensor ( 330 ) sensing at least one of a pitch ( 110 ) or a roll ( 112 ) of a vehicle ( 100 ) during ground travel and outputting at least one of a pitch ( 530 ) or a roll ( 531 ) value;
a computing device ( 310 ) having a processor ( 537 ) and a memory ( 533 ) and an input ( 535 ) coupled to an input and monitoring module ( 532 ) being processed by said processor, where said input and monitoring module being processed by said processor receives one of the pitch or roll values output by the at least one inertial sensor, said computing system further having a measuring module ( 534 ) measuring an oscillation based on one of the output pitch or roll values and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value based on a comparison between an expected oscillation and the measured oscillation;
said computing device having an output coupled to an alert module ( 548 ) being processed by said processor, where said alert module receives the adjusted center of gravity value and outputs an alert signal ( 562 ) through said output ( 538 ) if the adjusted center of gravity value is outside of a predetermined threshold; and
a historical data collection module ( 558 ) at said computer device collecting and storing over time the measured oscillation at a memory ( 568 ) and determining the expected oscillation based on the measured oscillation stored over time.

2. The system for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel as recited in claim 1 , where the at least one inertial sensor is a component of a built-in inertial navigation unit ( 660 ) or a removably installed portable computing device ( 802 ).

3. The system for detecting vehicle load anomalies as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one first supplemental inertial sensor ( 540 ) sensing a supplemental pitch of the vehicle during ground travel where said at least one first supplemental inertial sensor is located along a horizontal line ( 104 ) passing proximately through an unladen center of gravity ( 102 , 604 ) and outputting a supplemental pitch value ( 542 );
at least one second supplemental inertial sensor ( 546 ) sensing a supplemental roll of the vehicle during ground travel where said at least one second supplemental inertial sensor is located along a vertical line passing proximately through the unladen center of gravity and outputting a supplemental roll value ( 544 ); and
said input and monitoring module receives the supplemental pitch and supplemental roll values and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value based on a comparison between the expected oscillation and the measured oscillation sensed by the at least one inertial sensor and the first and second supplemental inertial sensors.

4. The system for detecting vehicle load anomalies as recited in claim 3 , where sensing of the supplement pitch, sensing of the supplemental roll and sensing of one of the pitch or roll, includes sensing the vehicle motion during ground travel based on an interaction with a predetermined calibrated irregularity ( 402 ).

5. The system for detecting vehicle load anomalies as recited in claim 1 , where sensing of one of the pitch or roll includes sensing the vehicle during ground travel based on an interaction with a predetermined calibrated surface irregularity ( 402 ).

6. The system for detecting vehicle load anomalies as recited in claim 1 , where the vehicle is chosen from one of an aircraft, an automobile, and a truck.

7. A system for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel comprising:
at least one inertial sensor ( 330 ) sensing at least one of a pitch ( 110 ) or a roll ( 112 ) of a vehicle ( 100 ) during ground travel and outputting at least one of a pitch ( 530 ) or a roll ( 531 ) value;
a computing device ( 310 ) having a processor ( 537 ) and a memory ( 533 ) and an input ( 535 ) coupled to an input and monitoring module ( 532 ) being processed by said processor, where said input and monitoring module being processed by said processor receives one of the pitch or roll values output by the at least one inertial sensor, and said computing system further having a measuring module ( 534 ) measuring an oscillation based on one of the output pitch or roll values and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value based on a comparison between an expected oscillation and the measured oscillation;
said computing device having an output coupled to an alert module ( 548 ) being processed by said processor, where said alert module receives the adjusted center of gravity value and outputs an alert signal ( 562 ) through said output ( 538 ) if the adjusted center of gravity value is outside of a predetermined threshold; and
a global positioning system ( 560 ) correlating inertial sensor data of a current vehicle being currently measured with inertial sensor data of prior vehicle responses to a same ground waypoint, and determining a difference between the inertial sensor data of the current vehicle being currently measured and the inertial sensor data of prior vehicle responses, and if the difference is outside of the same ground waypoint threshold, transmitting a maintenance alert notification ( 564 , 566 ).

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a portable computing device ( 802 ).

9. A method for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel comprising:
sensing at least one of a pitch or roll of a vehicle with at least one inertial sensor ( 330 ) and outputting at least one of pitch ( 530 ) or roll values ( 531 ), the vehicle being an aircraft, and the sensing occurring during ground travel of the aircraft;
monitoring at a computing system ( 310 ) having an input ( 535 ) coupled to an input and monitoring module ( 532 ), with said input and monitoring module and receiving the at least one of the pitch or roll values output by the at least one inertial sensor, and further measuring at said computing system with a measuring module ( 534 ) an oscillation ( 508 ) based on the at least one of the output pitch or roll values and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value ( 510 ) based on a comparison ( 512 ) between an expected oscillation and the measured oscillation; and
receiving at said computing system at an output coupled to an alert module ( 548 ), with said alert module, the adjusted center of gravity value and outputting an alert signal ( 562 ) through said output if the adjusted center of gravity value is outside of a predetermined threshold ( 606 or 612 ).

10. The method for detecting vehicle load anomalies during ground travel as recited in claim 9 , where the at least one inertial sensor is a component of a built-in aircraft inertial navigation unit ( 660 ) or a removably installed portable computing device ( 802 ).

11. The method for detecting vehicle load anomalies as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
sensing a supplemental pitch of the vehicle with at least one first supplemental inertial sensor ( 521 ) during ground travel where said at least one first supplemental inertial sensor is located along a horizontal line ( 104 ) passing proximately through an unladen center of gravity ( 102 ) of the vehicle and outputting a supplemental pitch ( 542 ) and roll ( 544 ) value; and
receiving the supplemental pitch and supplemental pitch and roll values to said input and monitoring module ( 532 ) and calculating an adjusted center of gravity value ( 522 ) based on a comparison ( 512 ) between the expected oscillation and the measured oscillation sensed by the at least one inertial sensor and the first and second supplemental inertial sensors.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Cousins Clifford G
• Casey Sean M

Classifications

• G01M1/125 Primary

  of aircraft · CPC title