Textron Innovations Inc.

Bell Textron Inc.

Aaron M Hitchcock

Maurice D Griffin

Russell C Peters

Levi Charles Hefner

John Robert Wittmaak, Jr

Andrew Vincent Louis

William Ben Johns

Nathaniel Gordon Lundie

Eric Covington

Hunter Nelson Morgan

John Robert Wittmark, Jr

A method of arbitrating communications between unmanned aerial system (UAS) devices includes: receiving, at a first communication component of a first UAS device, information for transmission to a destination associated with a second UAS device; inserting, by a first arbiter executing on the first communication component, a message sequence indication into a payload of a data packet that contains the information; transmitting, by the first arbiter, a respective copy of the data packet over each of a plurality of communication links established between the first and second UAS devices; receiving, at a second communication component of the second UAS device, one or more copies of the data packet; and determining in accordance with the message sequence indication, by a second arbiter executing on the second communication component, for each received copy of the data packet, whether to deliver the information to the destination.

Datalink arbitration with framed broadcast

A flight control system, including a flight control computer (FCC) configured for providing a first and second flight function, and sending, to effectors of an aircraft, first command signals based on the first and second flight functions, and a second computer configured for providing one or more autonomy functions associated with operation of the aircraft, and that are different from the first and second flight functions, monitoring operation of the FCC, determining whether the FCC has failed, and providing a fail-safe mode for at least the first flight function in response to determining that the FCC has failed. Providing the fail-safe mode includes providing one or more critical flight functions that includes the first flight function, and sending, to the effectors, second command signals that replace a first command signal associated with the first flight function and that are based on the critical flight functions.

Fault tolerant flight control architecture

One embodiment is a navigation system for an aircraft including a positioning system to generate information related to a position of the aircraft, a group of cameras mounted to a body of the aircraft, each camera of the group of cameras to simultaneously capture images of a portion of an environment that surrounds the aircraft, and a processing component coupled to the positioning system and the group of cameras, the processing component to determine a current position of the aircraft based on the information related to the position of the aircraft and the images.

Navigation system with camera assist

A ground state determination system for an aircraft includes sensors configured to detect parameters of the aircraft and a flight control system implementing a ground state module. The ground state module includes a ground state monitoring module configured to monitor the parameters and a ground state determination module configured to compare each of the parameters monitored by the ground state monitoring module to a respective parameter threshold to determine whether the aircraft is on a surface.

Ground state determination systems for aircraft

An aircraft includes an airframe with a thrust array attached thereto. The thrust array includes a plurality of propulsion assemblies that are independently controlled by a flight control system. A landing gear assembly is coupled to the airframe and includes a plurality of landing feet. An altitude sensor array includes a plurality of altitude sensors each of which is disposed within one of the landing feet such that when the aircraft is in the VTOL orientation, the altitude sensor array is configured to obtain multifocal altitude data relative to a landing surface. The flight control system is configured to generate a three-dimensional terrain map of the surface based upon the multifocal altitude data.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Worth, TX, United States of America

Aaron M Hitchcock