Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Derek H Geiger

Ole Wulff

Aaron L Greenfield

Christopher A Thornberg

Vineet Sahasrabudhe

Mark W Davis

Stephen T Kubik

Andrew M Brookhart

James Rigsby

Harshad S Sane

Jonathan K Garhart

Donald W Fowler

Claude G Matalanis

Joseph T Driscoll

Alex Faynberg

William C Fell, Jr

Marcus D Cappelli

Avinash Sarlashkar, Jr

Glen A Knaust

Jonathan Aaron Litwin

Jennifer D Goss

Aaron Joshua Fradkin

Jeremy Frimpong Banning

Aerial navigation is disclosed. A system can detect a difference between forces applied to a plurality of ground contact points of an aerial vehicle taxiing on a ground surface. The system can determine an adjustment to a vertical component of a thrust. The thrust can be produced by at least one of a rotor or a propeller of the aerial vehicle to reduce the difference between the forces applied to the plurality of ground contact points of the aerial vehicle. The system can generate a control output to cause the at least one of the rotor or the propeller to adjust the vertical component of the thrust to reduce the difference between the forces.

Thrust control for ground navigation of aerial vehicles

A rotary-wing aircraft and system for flying a rotary-wing aircraft. The aircraft includes a servo system for actuating a rotor of the aircraft. A hydraulic system provides hydraulic power to the servo system, and a sensor measures a parameter of the hydraulic system. A processor determines a condition of the hydraulic system from the parameter and enforces an effective flight envelop based on the condition of the hydraulic system in order to fly the aircraft within the effective flight envelope.

Automatic envelope limiting based on detected hydraulic failures

A method for providing adaptive control to a fly-by-wire aircraft includes measuring via at least one first sensor a characteristic of at least one component of the aircraft and measuring via at least one second sensor a state of the aircraft. Using the characteristic of at least one component and the state of the aircraft, a determination of at least one of an actual damage and remaining life of the at least one component is made. The operational envelope of the aircraft is adapted based on the at least one of actual damage and remaining life of the at least one component. Adapting the operational envelope includes adjusting an outer boundary thereof to prohibit operation exceeding a safe operation threshold and generating an intermediate boundary of the operational envelope. Operation of the aircraft within the intermediate boundaries minimizes further damage accrual of the at least one component.

Adaptive control of aircraft using structural health monitoring

A computer-implemented method and system for controlling an aircraft based on detecting and mitigating fatiguing conditions and aircraft damage conditions is disclosed. According to one example, a computer-implemented method includes detecting, by a processing system, a health condition of a component of the aircraft. The method further includes determining, by the processing system, whether the health condition is one of a fatigue condition or a damage condition. The method further includes implementing, by the processing system, a first action based at least in part on determining that the health condition is a fatigue condition to mitigate the fatigue condition. The method further includes implementing, by the processing system, a second action based at least in part on determining that the health condition is a damage condition to mitigate the damage condition.

Controlling an aircraft based on detecting and mitigating fatiguing conditions and aircraft damage conditions

A rotary aerial vehicle (AV) includes an engine configured to rotate at least one rotor at a variable rotor speed, a full authority electronic microcontroller (FAEM) in electrical communication with the engine. The FAEM is configured to output at least one electronic engine control signal that controls operation of the engine. An electronic rotor speed microcontroller (ERSM) is in electrical communication with the FAEM, and the ERSM is configured to dynamically determine at least one mission objective of the rotary AV, and outputs an electronic rotor speed control signal that commands the FAEM to adjust the rotor speed of the at least one rotor.

Aerial vehicle including autonomous rotor speed control

A system and method for controlling a rotor of an aircraft is disclosed. A desired rotor speed for the rotor is received and a torque command that generates the received rotor speed is calculated. A fuel adjustment signal is calculated based on the torque command and a dynamic rotor measurement of the aircraft. The fuel adjustment signal is provided to the aircraft to track the rotor speed to the desired rotor speed.

Model following control for torque and rotor speed

A method of tip clearance estimation for a rotor blade is provided. The method includes measuring blade deflection of the rotor blade, generating a harmonic function for the rotor blade from the measured blade deflection, predicting tip displacement of the rotor blade using the generated harmonic function and adjusting a position of the rotor blade according to the predicted tip displacement.

Tip clearance harmonic estimation

An aircraft and method of flying an aircraft are disclosed. The aircraft includes a cross-feed unit that receives a flight command for the aircraft and determines an amount of fuel for a motor of the aircraft in order to reduce a droop in the aircraft when executing the flight command at the aircraft. A fuel injector or fuel supplier provides the determined amount of fuel to the motor when the flight command is executed at the aircraft.

Dynamic flight command cross-feed for rotor speed droop reduction

A flight system for an aircraft and method for controlling a clearance between a first rotor disk and a second rotor disk of an aircraft is disclosed. The flight system includes a sensor for measuring an angle of deviation of at least one of a first rotor disk and a second rotor disk of the aircraft to indicate a clearance between the first rotor disk and the second rotor disk as well as sensors for measuring a flight condition of the aircraft. A control allocation module uses the measured angle of deviation and the flight condition of the aircraft to determine an allocation of control settings to axis-controlling devices of the aircraft to attain a selected pitch of the aircraft, wherein the allocation is based at least on the measured angle of deviation and the flight state of the aircraft.

Multi-objective control system with control allocation

A fiber-optic sensor system includes a structure having a fiber-optic cable operatively connected thereto. The system includes a network controller with an interrogator operatively connected to the fiber-optic cable to receive optical energy indicative of a characteristic of the structure therefrom and convert optical energy to electrical energy and electrical energy to optical energy for data communication. A sensor and/or a data source are operatively connected to the fiber-optic cable through the network controller to transmit data through the fiber-optic cable and receive data therefrom.

Systems and methods for integrated, multi-functional, fault tolerant sensing and communication

Examples of rotor speed reduction using a feed-forward rotor speed control command are provided. In one example, a computer-implemented method includes: receiving, by a processing device, flight command indicative of a change in a flight characteristic of an aircraft comprising a rotor; generating, by the processing device, a change in load factor based on the flight command; generating, by the processing device, a change in rotor speed based on the change in load factor; generating, by the processing device, a rotor speed command based on the change in rotor speed to a flight controller to cause the aircraft to change a rotor speed of the rotor; and changing, by the processing device, the rotor speed of the rotor responsive to the rotor speed command.

Rotor speed control using a feed-forward rotor speed command

A control system for a rotary wing aircraft having a reconfigurable element. The control system includes a model predictive control module receiving operator commands, objectives and constraints; and a dynamic inversion module receiving an output of the model predictive control module, the dynamic inversion module providing control commands to reconfigure the reconfigurable element of the rotary wing aircraft.

Control system for reconfigurable rotary wing aircraft

Lift offset management and control systems are provided for a rotorcraft including main rotor and auxiliary propulsor assemblies, the main rotor assembly including first and second rotors disposed to oppositely rotate relative to an airframe about a same rotational axis, and sensors disposed to generate hub moment, tip clearance and lift offset data of the main rotor assembly.

Lift offset management and control systems for coaxial rotorcraft

A method and system of controlling a rotorcraft for sea-based operations includes receiving sensed information indicative of an operation of the rotorcraft; receiving operator commands, ship models and system constraints; and determining a solution to an optimization function that avoids violating the system constraints, the solution being representative of control command signals for augmenting a flight response of the rotorcraft to a ship.

Rotorcraft control laws for sea-based operations

A rotary wing aircraft includes a rotor assembly includes a rotor sensor generating a rotor sensor time domain signal; a rotor transform module converting the rotor sensor time domain signal to a rotor sensor frequency domain signal; and a rotor transceiver for transmitting the rotor sensor frequency domain signal over a transfer medium; an airframe assembly including: an airframe transceiver receiving the rotor sensor frequency domain signal; and an airframe transform module converting the rotor sensor frequency domain signal to the rotor sensor time domain signal. Signals from the airframe assembly may also be converted to the frequency domain prior to transfer over the transfer medium to the rotor assembly.

Growing community of inventors

Wilton, CT, United States of America

Derek H Geiger