Apparatus and methods for automated control of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12100305-B2
Application number	US-202217751824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2022
Priority date	May 24, 2022
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

An apparatus for automated ground control of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft includes a flight controller and a remote device. Remote device may transmit a location datum to a flight controller. Location datum may store a location of a charger, terminal, airport, or the like. Flight controller may authorize the location datum and direct aircraft using the information from the location datum.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for automated ground control of a grounded electric aircraft, the apparatus comprising:
a flight controller incorporated in the grounded electric aircraft, the flight controller configured to:
receive an automated ground control datum from a remote device, wherein the automated ground control datum comprises one or more commands to automatically control the grounded electric aircraft to travel to a first location of a charger;
determine an authority status from among a plurality of authority statuses for the first location based at least in part on a second location of the grounded electric aircraft and a current orientation of the grounded electric aircraft, wherein the authority status is associated with a distance between the second location and the first location and a charging orientation of the grounded electric aircraft relative to the charger at the first location;
determine that the authority status authorizes automatic control of the grounded electric aircraft to the first location based at least in part on the automated ground control datum;
in response to determining that the authority status authorizes the automatic control of the grounded electric aircraft to the first location, generate a command datum as a function of the automated ground control datum, the command datum comprising commands for automatically controlling a movement of the grounded electric aircraft from the second location to the first location; and
initiate an operation of a pusher component of the grounded electric aircraft as a function of the command datum to automatically control the movement of the grounded electric aircraft between the second location and the first location.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flight controller is configured to generate the second location of the grounded electric aircraft as a function of second user input.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the automated ground control datum further comprises the first location.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the automated ground control datum further comprises the charging orientation.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the charging orientation comprises positioning the grounded electric aircraft directly over a center of the charger.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an operation of the pusher component comprises operating the pusher component to adjust the current orientation of the grounded electric aircraft based at least in part on the charging orientation of the grounded electric aircraft relative to the charger at the first location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the automated ground control datum comprises at least one of a heading to the first location from the second location or a direction to the first location from the second location.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the command datum is generated using the at least one of the heading to the first location from the second location or the direction to the first location from the second location.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the automated ground control datum is received wirelessly from the remote device.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the remote device is a component of the charger.

11. A method for automated ground control of a grounded electric aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving, from a remote device, an automated ground control datum comprising one or more commands to automatically control the grounded electric aircraft to travel to a first location of a charger;
determining, at a flight controller configured at the grounded electric aircraft, an authority status from among a plurality of authority statuses for the first location based at least in part on a second location of the grounded electric aircraft and a current orientation of the grounded electric aircraft, wherein the authority status is associated with a distance between the second location and the first location and a charging orientation of the grounded electric aircraft relative to the charger at the first location;
determining, at the flight controller, that the authority status authorizes automatic control of the grounded electric aircraft to the first location based at least in part on the automated ground control datum;
in response to determining that the authority status authorizes the automatic control of the grounded electric aircraft to the first location, generating, at the flight controller, a command datum as a function of the automated ground control datum, the command datum comprising commands for automatically controlling a movement of the grounded electric aircraft from the second location to the first location; and
initiating, at the flight controller, an operation of a pusher component of the grounded electric aircraft as a function of the command datum and the authority status to automatically control the movement of the grounded electric aircraft between the second location and the first location.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the method further comprises generating, at the flight controller, a set of authority statuses and corresponding location data; and
determining the authority status is further based at least in part on the set of authority statuses and the corresponding location data.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein generating the one or more commands comprise at least one command to adjust the current orientation of the grounded electric aircraft based at least in part on the charging orientation of the grounded electric aircraft relative to the charger at the first location.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the automated ground control datum further comprises the charging orientation.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the automated ground control datum further comprises the first location.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein an actuator communicatively connected to the flight controller is configured to convert the command datum into mechanical movement of at least one of the pusher component or a maneuver component of the grounded electric aircraft.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the actuator comprises one or more of:
brake calipers,
gears,
one or more inverters, or
one or more propulsors.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the automated ground control datum comprises at least one of a heading to the first location from the second location or a direction to the first location from the second location.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising initiating, at the flight controller, as a function of the command datum and the authority status, one or more of:
adjusting a torque generated at a propulsor component of the grounded electric aircraft; or
adjusting a yaw of the grounded electric aircraft.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein initiating the operation of the pusher component comprise initiating a rotation of the pusher component to generate at least one of substantially forward thrust or substantially horizontal thrust.

Assignees

• Beta Air Llc

Inventors

• Palombini John Charles
• Ward Nathan
• Carapetyan Skye
• Donnelly Richard
• Pill Jake
• Hall Edward

Classifications

• G08G5/59

  in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones · CPC title

• G08G5/26 Primary

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55 Primary

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title