System and method for low speed wind estimation in VTOL aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12234010-B2
Application number	US-202117494236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2021
Priority date	Oct 5, 2021
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

A wind estimation system for an aircraft includes a first sensor configured to sense a first position associated with an aircraft control component in a wind condition, a second sensor configured to sense a first configuration associated with a rotor system of the aircraft in the wind condition, and at least one controller in communication with at least one of the first sensor or the second sensor. The at least one controller is configured to determine a tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft based on the first position and the first configuration, and determine at least one of a current wind speed or current wind direction based on the tip-path-plane angle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wind estimation system for an aircraft, the system comprising:
a first sensor configured to sense a first position associated with an aircraft control component in a wind condition;
a second sensor configured to sense a first configuration associated with a rotor system of the aircraft in the wind condition; and
at least one controller in communication with at least one of the first sensor or the second sensor, the at least one controller being configured to:
determine a tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft based on the first position and the first configuration;
determine at least one of a current wind speed or current wind direction associated with the wind condition based on the tip-path-plane angle; and
control the aircraft based on at least one of the current wind speed or the current wind direction.

2. The wind estimation system of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft control component is selected from the list consisting of: a pitch control, a throttle control, an antitorque control, and a cyclic pitch control.

3. The wind estimation system of claim 1 , further comprising a third sensor configured to sense a global position of the aircraft in the wind condition, wherein determining the tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft is further based on the global position.

4. The wind estimation system of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the second sensor or the third sensor is a spatial sensor.

5. The wind estimation system of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the second sensor or the third sensor is a camera.

6. The wind estimation system of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the second sensor or the third sensor respectively determine the first configuration or the global position using light detection and ranging (LIDAR).

7. The wind estimation system of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration comprises at least one of an angle of attack or a blade pitch.

8. The wind estimation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to determine the current wind speed by
comparing at least one of the first position or the first configuration respectively with a second position or a second configuration, the second position or second configuration being associated with at least one of a reference wind speed or a reference wind direction; and
estimating at least one of the current wind speed or current wind direction based on at least one of the reference wind speed or reference wind direction.

9. The wind estimation system of claim 8 , further comprising a memory configured to store a database accessible to the at least one controller, wherein at least one of the second position, the second configuration, or the reference wind speed are determined from the database.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one controller is configured to estimate the wind speed based on information from a reference table of the database and information from the first sensor.

11. A method for calculating a wind speed, the method comprising:
sensing, by a first sensor, a first position associated with an aircraft control component in a wind condition;
sensing, by a second sensor, a first configuration associated with a rotor system of an aircraft in the wind condition;
sensing, by a third sensor, a global position of the aircraft;
determining, by a controller in communication with each of the first sensor, second sensor, and third sensor, a tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft based on the first position, the first configuration, and the global position;
determining, by the controller, a current wind speed based on the tip-path-plane angle; and
controlling the aircraft based on the current wind speed.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
sensing, by the first sensor, a reference position associated with the aircraft control component in the wind condition;
sensing, by the second sensor, a reference configuration associated with the rotor system in the wind condition;
sensing, by the third sensor, a reference position of the aircraft; and
determining, by the controller, a reference tip-path-plane angle.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the current wind speed comprises:
comparing at least one of the first position or the first configuration respectively with the reference position or the reference configuration, the reference position or reference configuration being associated with a reference wind speed; and
estimating the current wind speed based on the reference wind speed.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising storing, by a memory in communication with the controller, each of the reference configuration and the reference position in a database communicably coupled to the controller.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the database comprises a look up table.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the reference wind speed is approximately 40 knots or less.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the tip-path-plane angle comprises implementing a random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm.

18. An aircraft comprising:
a rotor system;
at least one control component in communication with the rotor system;
a first sensor configured to sense a first position associated with the at least one control component in a wind condition;
a second sensor configured to sense a first configuration associated with the rotor system in the wind condition;
a global position determination system comprising a third sensor configured to sense a global position of the aircraft in the wind condition; and
at least one controller in communication with each of the first sensor, the second sensor, and the third sensor, the at least one processor being configured to:
determine a tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft based on the first position, the first configuration, and the global position;
determine a current wind speed based on the tip-path-plane angle; and
control the aircraft based on the current wind speed.

19. The aircraft of claim 18 , wherein the aircraft is at least one of a semiautonomous or autonomous vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

20. The aircraft of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the second sensor or the third sensor is mounted to an airframe portion of the aircraft.

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Ward Mark Daniel
• Dadkhah Tehrani Navid

Classifications

• G01S17/95

  for meteorological use · CPC title

• B64D47/08

  Arrangements of cameras · CPC title

• B64C27/06

  with single rotor · CPC title

• Y02A90/10

  Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation · CPC title

• G01P5/06

  using rotation of vanes (measuring speed of rotating shafts G01P3/00) · CPC title