Angle-of-attack flight computer systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11061410-B2
Application number	US-201916399893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2019
Priority date	Apr 30, 2019
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

According to one implementation of the present disclosure, a method for determining angle-of-attack for an unpowered vehicle is disclosed. The method includes: determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot; during flight, determining, by an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, where the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively; determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining an angle-of-attack for an unpowered vehicle, comprising:
determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
during flight, determining, by an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factors, respectively;
determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and
determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to determining the angle-of-attack parameter, at least one of:
generating, at least partially by a flight computer system, a flight profile of the unpowered vehicle; and
adjusting, at least partially by the flight computer system, an angle-of-attack setting of the unpowered vehicle based on the angle-of-attack parameter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the operating point on the monotonic curve portion by applying the quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot comprises:
matching a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to a substantially equivalent body-fixed acceleration, wherein the body-fixed acceleration corresponds to a particular quotient of a particular first and second body-fixed coefficients.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the particular quotient of the first and second body-fixed coefficient corresponds to a particular respective first and second aerodynamic data characteristic.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the particular respective first and second aerodynamic data characteristic corresponds to a particular respective lift coefficient metric and drag coefficient metric.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monotonic curve portion corresponds to a plurality of body-fixed accelerations as a function of a plurality of angle-of-attack parameters.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of angle-of-attack parameters corresponds to a respective range of prospective angle-of-attack directions.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the angle-of-attack parameter of the plurality of angle-of-attack parameters corresponds to one direction of the range of the prospective angle-of-attack directions, and wherein the angle-of-attack parameter corresponds to a lift-to-drag-optimized angle-of-attack, a minimum-sink rate-optimized angle of attack, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of body-fixed accelerations corresponds to a quotient of the pluralities of first and second body-fixed coefficients.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of a first body-fixed coefficient is based on a corresponding plurality of a first aerodynamic data characteristic and a range of angle-of-attack directions.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of a first aerodynamic data characteristic comprises a plurality of lift coefficient metrics.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of a second body-fixed coefficient is based on a corresponding plurality of a second aerodynamic data characteristic and a range of angle-of-attack directions.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of a second aerodynamic data characteristic comprises a plurality of drag coefficient metrics.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operating point corresponds to a particular body-fixed acceleration as function of a corresponding particular angle-of-attack parameter.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first body-fixed load factor measurement corresponds to a quotient of a magnitude of axial force and weight, and wherein the second body-fixed load factor measurement corresponds to a quotient of a magnitude of normal force and weight.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the monotonic portion of the look-up curve of the angle-of-attack operating plot comprises:
obtaining pluralities of first and second aerodynamic data characteristics as respective functions of a range of angle-of-attack directions;
computing, by a processor, pluralities of first and second body-fixed coefficients as the respective functions of the range of angle-of-attack directions;
determining, by the processor, a plurality of body-fixed accelerations as a function of a prospective range of the range of angle-of-attack directions based on respective pluralities of quotients of the first and second body-fixed coefficients as the respective functions of the range of angle-of-attack directions, wherein the determined plurality of body-fixed accelerations as a function of a prospective range of the range of angle-of-attack directions corresponds to the look-up curve of the angle-of-attack operating plot; and
determining the monotonic portion based on a filtering, by the processor, of the look-up curve.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the pluralities of first and second aerodynamic data characteristics are obtained by estimating the range of the body-fixed accelerations for the vehicle or by measuring wind tunnel data with respect to the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein a graph comparing a range of body-fixed accelerations as a function of the prospective range of the range of angle-of-attack directions corresponds to the angle-of-attack operating plot.

19. A flight computer system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
during flight, receiving from an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively;
determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and
determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
determine a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
during flight, receive from an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively;
determine an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and
determine an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.

Assignees

• Bell Helicopter Textron Inc
• Textron Innovations Inc

Inventors

• Campbell Kip Gregory

Classifications

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/50

  Navigation or guidance aids · CPC title

• B64D45/00

  Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B64C31/02

  Gliders, e.g. sailplanes (hang-gliders B64C31/028) · CPC title

• B64C13/16

  actuated automatically, e.g. responsive to gust detectors · CPC title