Decoupled hand controls for aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing and forward flight capabilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10144504-B1
Application number	US-201715693804-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 1, 2017
Priority date	Sep 1, 2017
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

Hand controls for an aircraft, including a single axis hand control which is configured to control movement of an aircraft along a vertical axis where the aircraft includes a plurality of rotors that are attached to the aircraft at a fixed position and the plurality of rotors rotate independently of one another. The hand controls further include a three axis hand control which is configured to control movement of the aircraft within a plane defined by a roll axis and a pitch axis, as well as about a yaw axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a single axis hand control which is configured to control movement of an aircraft along a vertical axis, wherein:
the single axis hand control includes a thumbwheel which is attached to a left handgrip;
the aircraft includes a plurality of rotors that are attached to the aircraft at a fixed position; and
the plurality of rotors rotate independently of one another; and

a three axis hand control which is configured to control movement of the aircraft within a plane defined by a roll axis and a pitch axis, as well as about a yaw axis, wherein the three axis hand control includes a fingertip joystick which is attached to a right armrest.

2. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the single axis hand control includes a thumbwheel; and
the three axis hand control includes a fingertip joystick.

3. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the single axis hand control includes a thumbwheel which in turn includes:
a tab with a height in a range of 0.125 inch-1 inch; and
a faceplate with a height in a range of 0.5 inch-2 inches and a width in a range of 0.25 inch-1 inch.

4. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising a flight controller which is configured to:
receive an altitude associated with the aircraft; and
set a maximum velocity associated with the aircraft based at least in part on the altitude.

5. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising:
a low pass filter which is configured to:
receive a raw signal from a hand control; and
generate a slowed signal based at least in part on the raw signal; and

a flight controller which is configured to use the slowed signal to control at least one of the plurality of rotors.

6. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a signal from a hand control;
determine a desired velocity based at least in part on the signal from the hand control; and
adjust, if needed, a plurality of control signals to the plurality of rotors such that a measured velocity matches the desired velocity.

7. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a pitch offset based at least in part on the forward velocity, wherein the pitch offset changes monotonically with the forward velocity;
determine a desired pitch based at least in part on the pitch offset and a pitch angle specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired pitch.

8. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the system further comprises a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a pitch offset based at least in part on the forward velocity, wherein the pitch offset changes monotonically with the forward velocity;
determine a desired pitch based at least in part on the pitch offset and a pitch angle specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired pitch; and

determining the desired pitch includes summing the pitch offset and the pitch angle specified via the three axis hand control, wherein the pitch angle specified via the three axis hand control is non-zero.

9. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity and a roll angle associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a yaw rate offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the roll angle, wherein the yaw rate offset increases over a first forward velocity range and decreases over a second forward velocity range and the yaw rate offset changes monotonically with the roll angle;
determine a desired yaw rate based at least in part on the yaw rate offset and a yaw rate specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired yaw rate.

10. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the system further comprises a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity and a roll angle associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a yaw rate offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the roll angle, wherein the yaw rate offset increases over a first forward velocity range and decreases over a second forward velocity range and the yaw rate offset changes monotonically with the roll angle;
determine a desired yaw rate based at least in part on the yaw rate offset and a yaw rate specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired yaw rate; and

determining the desired yaw rate includes summing the yaw rate offset and the yaw rate specified via the three axis hand control, wherein the yaw rate specified via the three axis hand control is non-zero.

11. The system recited in claim 1 further comprising a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a roll angle offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate;
determine a desired roll angle based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired roll angle.

12. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the system further comprises a flight controller which is configured to:
receive a forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with the aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determine a roll angle offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate;
determine a desired roll angle based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via the three axis hand control; and
determine a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired roll angle; and

determining the desired roll angle includes summing the roll angle offset and the roll angle specified via the three axis hand control, wherein the roll angle specified via the three axis hand control is non-zero.

13. A method, comprising:
receiving a forward velocity associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
determining a pitch offset based at least in part on the forward velocity, wherein the pitch offset changes monotonically with the forward velocity;
determining a desired pitch based at least in part on the pitch offset and a pitch angle specified via a three-axis hand control, wherein:
the three-axis hand control is configured to control move

Assignees

• Kitty Hawk Corp

Inventors

• Selwa Alexander David
• Reichert Todd
• Cutler Mark Johnson

Classifications

• B64C13/0421 Primary

  control sticks for primary flight controls · CPC title

• G05G9/047

  the controlling member being movable by hand about orthogonal axes, e.g. joysticks {(for switches H01H25/04)} · CPC title

• G05D1/0816

  to ensure stability · CPC title

• G05D1/102

  specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft · CPC title

• B64C27/08

  with two or more rotors · CPC title