System and methods for automatically landing aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9939819-B2
Application number	US-201615388793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Oct 24, 2012
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is an autonomous landing system for landing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The autonomous landing system may include a flight control system having radar sensors, altimeters, and/or velocity sensors. The flight control system can include a processor to provide pitch, roll, and yaw commands to the VTOL aircraft based at least in part on data from the radar sensors, the altimeters, and/or the velocity sensors. The flight control system can be used to navigate and land the VTOL aircraft on a movable object, such as a ship.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous landing system for landing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft on a movable object, the autonomous landing system comprising:
one or more radar sensors to provide range and bearing data indicative of a range and bearing of the movable object relative to the VTOL aircraft;
one or more altimeters to provide altitude data indicative of an altitude of the VTOL aircraft;
one or more velocity sensors to provide groundspeed data indicative of a groundspeed of the VTOL aircraft; and
a flight control system having a processor to provide pitch, roll, and yaw commands to the VTOL aircraft, wherein the processor is operatively coupled with each of the one or more radar sensors, the one or more altimeters, and the one or more velocity sensors,
wherein the processor is configured to determine a first location at a predetermined distance from the movable object and a second location at a predetermined altitude above the movable object,
wherein the flight control system is configured (1) to navigate the VTOL aircraft to the first location based at least in part on (a) the range and bearing data and (b) the altitude data, and (2) to maintain the VTOL aircraft at the first location until the flight control system receives a command from a remote object to initiate a landing operation,
wherein the flight control system is configured to navigate the VTOL aircraft from the first location to the second location upon receipt of the command.

2. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the movable object is a vessel.

3. The autonomous landing system of claim 2 , wherein the first location is a vessel-relative off-deck waypoint (VRODW) location that is aft of the vessel.

4. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the movable object includes a touchdown point.

5. The autonomous landing system of claim 4 , wherein the second location is a high hover point above the touchdown point.

6. The autonomous landing system of claim 5 , further comprising an optical sensor to track the touchdown point at the movable object from the high hover point.

7. The autonomous landing system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a low hover point between the high hover point and the touchdown point.

8. The autonomous landing system of claim 7 , wherein the flight control system is configured to, based at least in part on an output from the one or more altimeters, navigate the VTOL aircraft from the high hover point to the low hover point at a first descent speed.

9. The autonomous landing system of claim 8 , wherein the flight control system is configured to, based at least in part on an output from the one or more altimeters, navigate the VTOL aircraft from the low hover point to the touchdown point at a second descent speed, wherein the second descent speed is less than the first descent speed.

10. The autonomous landing system of claim 6 , wherein the optical sensor includes a flash LIDAR that is oriented downward, toward the ground or the touchdown point.

11. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the flight control system receives the command from the remote object via a C2 communication link.

12. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the remote object is the moveable object.

13. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more velocity sensors includes a Doppler velocity sensor.

14. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more altimeters includes a radio altimeter and a barometric altimeter.

15. The autonomous landing system of claim 14 , wherein the flight control system is configured to provide vertical control of the VTOL aircraft from the first location to the second location based at least in part on measurements from the barometric altimeter.

16. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more radar sensors includes a pulse radar sensor.

17. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more altimeters are configured to track an altitude of the VTOL aircraft relative to the moveable object by isolating vertical motion of the moveable object from vertical motion of the VTOL aircraft.

18. The autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to provide the pitch, roll, and yaw commands to the VTOL aircraft in a GPS-denied environment.

19. A VTOL aircraft comprising the autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the VTOL aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft.

20. A VTOL aircraft comprising the autonomous landing system of claim 1 , wherein the VTOL aircraft is a rotorcraft.

Assignees

• Aurora Flight Sciences Corp
• Auror Flight Sciences Corp

Inventors

• Lim Edward

Classifications

• G01S7/4802

  using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation; Target signature; Target cross-section · CPC title

• G01S17/88

  Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• B63B35/50

  Vessels or floating structures for aircraft (aircraft carriers B63G11/00; flying-boat hulls, other flotation means for aircraft B64) · CPC title

• B64D45/04

  Landing aids; Safety measures to prevent collision with earth's surface · CPC title

• G01S13/913

  for landing purposes · CPC title