Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation

Jim Jordan

Scott Bohanan

Tongan Wang

Kristin Medin

Jeffrey Hausmann

Bethany Davis

Amy Mayo

Ozan Ates

Michael Knight

Matthew Wallace

John A Marchetti

Brian G Cook

Vincent DeChellis

Paul Conti

Fred W Taylor

Matthew Winslow

John Maxon

Justin Maas

Joseph Salamone

Stefan Eling

Andrew N Durrence

Gary Freeman

Jeffrey Good

A throttle quadrant system for an aircraft includes: a first throttle handle to control a first engine of the aircraft, the first throttle handle having a first activatable visual indicator integrated therein; a second throttle handle to control a second engine of the aircraft, the second throttle handle comprising a second activatable visual indicator integrated therein; and at least one controller to control activation and operation of the first activatable visual indicator and the second activatable visual indicator. The at least one controller responds to first engine data related to operating status of the first engine to selectively activate the first activatable visual indicator. The at least one controller also responds to second engine data related to operating status of the second engine to selectively activate the second activatable visual indicator.

Aircraft throttle quadrant assembly with integrated visual indicator feature

The aircraft intercom employs beam steerable microphone arrays and speaker arrays deployed in each of a plurality of zones within the aircraft. A speech recognizer generates recognition text from utterances picked up by the microphone arrays. A direction control processor analyzes the arrival time of signals from the microphone arrays to identify utterance location, which is then used to control the beam direction of at least one steerable speaker array. A dialogue manager processor coupled to the speech recognizer and to each of the plurality of microphone arrays and plurality of speaker arrays responds to a set of predefined keywords to selectively route a voiced communication from a first selected zone to a second selected zone using the microphone array and speaker array disposed in each of the first and second selected zones.

Directional array intercom for internal communication on aircraft

A flight guidance panel for an aircraft includes a subpanel display, a joystick, rotary encoders, a deflection sensor, and a processor. The subpanel display indicates autopilot modes and flight value goals and has a top-level state and a subpanel control state. The joystick is for user interaction with the subpanel display. The rotary encoder is coupled with the joystick to receive rotation inputs from a user of the joystick. The deflection sensor is coupled with the joystick to detect a deflection input from the user of the joystick. The processor is programmed to: change a state of the subpanel display to the subpanel control state corresponding to a selected subpanel in response to receiving the deflection input while the subpanel display is in the top-level state; and change the flight value goals in response to receiving the rotation inputs while the subpanel display is in the subpanel control state.

Flight guidance panels with joystick controls

An aircraft includes a fuselage, a main wing coupled with and extending outward from the fuselage, and a collision avoidance system coupled with the fuselage adjacent the main wing. The collision avoidance system includes first and second laser rangefinders and a detection circuit. The first and second laser rangefinders are configured to generate laser beams laterally outward of the fuselage and include diverging lenses spreading the laser beams in a vertical dimension. The detection circuit is coupled with the first laser rangefinder and the second laser rangefinder to: detect an object within a collision risk zone adjacent to the main wing based on input from at least one of the first laser rangefinder and the second laser rangefinder; and generate an alert that the object is at risk of colliding with the main wing.

Laser rangefinder systems with divergent lenses for aircraft wingtip collision avoidance systems

Audio content is controllably directed to or from an aircraft occupant, such as the pilot or a passenger using a microphone array of at least two transducers, positioned onboard an aircraft to pick up utterances of the aircraft occupant. An electronically steerable transducer array coupled to an onboard an aircraft audio system, such as an avionics communication system or in-flight entertainment system supplies audio content to the aircraft occupant. A signal processor coupled to the microphone array processes utterances sensed by the transducers using a time of arrival algorithm to determine an utterance originating direction. A controller circuit then supplies a pointing direction control signal to the steerable beamforming speaker array or microphone array based on the utterance originating direction to cause the steerable transducer array to direct the audio content in the direction of the sensed utterance and thereby direct the audio content to or from the aircraft occupant.

Microphone array onboard aircraft to determine crew/passenger location and to steer a transducer beam pattern to that location

The improved active noise cancellation system for forced air heating or cooling systems onboard aircraft employs a duct having a proximal end coupled to the fan unit to entrain the airflow stream in the direction of a distal end of the duct. A reference sensor is positioned within the proximal end of the duct. A means is provided for injecting an audio frequency control signal into the airflow stream in a manner that does not substantially impede the airflow stream. An error sensor is positioned at the distal end of the duct where it is responsive to sounds carried by the airflow stream, including the audio frequency control signal. An electronic circuit coupled to the reference sensor and to the error sensor supplies a noise abating control signal to energize the control transducer and thereby substantially reduce at least one noise harmonic of the fan unit through destructive interference.

Active noise cancellation of equipment fan noise on aircraft

To reduce engine noise in the cabin of an aircraft a plurality of error microphones is deployed at predetermined locations within the cabin to produce error microphone response signals associated with the engine noise in the cabin. Engine vibration inputs are obtained from sensors coupled to the aircraft engines. A processor is used to code the error microphone response signals into an encoded modal response in the cabin through a coding matrix. A processor is used to apply an adaptive filter to determine a plurality of modal signals needed to cancel the encoded modal response in the cabin. A processor is used to decode the modal signals into speaker input signals through a decoding matrix. Speaker input signals are then sent to a plurality of speakers to reduce the engine noise in the cabin.

Active noise cancellation of tonal noise by manipulating characteristic acoustic modes

A sound pickup transducer array, deployed within an enclosed area, is coupled to a sound recorder. A processor, coupled to the sound recorder, provides a button or speech recognizer through which a person in the enclosed area issues a command signifying the occurrence of a sound for which categorizing is requested. The processor is programmed to respond to the issued command by extracting and storing an audio snippet copied from the audio recorder, in a digital memory, where the snippet corresponds to sound captured before, during and after the issued command. The processor communicates the stored audio snippet to an artificial intelligence system trained to categorize sounds as to what produced them. The artificial intelligence system may employ trained model feature extraction, a neural network categorization system, and/or direction of sound arrival analysis.

Noise event location and classification in an enclosed area

Arrangements for communication and/or noise attenuation within an aircraft, and aircraft and methods for making aircraft including such arrangements are provided. In one example, an arrangement includes an array of first microphones cooperatively configured to be directed towards a first aircraft operator when disposed in a first cockpit seat to receive a first communication input from the first aircraft operator. An array of first speakers is cooperatively configured to be directed towards the first aircraft operator when disposed in the first cockpit seat to provide a first communication output to the first aircraft operator.

Arrangements and methods for enhanced communication on aircraft

Flight control information systems, flight guidance display, and aircraft are provided. A navigational information system includes an input configured to receive a flight plan wherein the flight plan includes a first waypoint, a second waypoint, a third waypoint, and future waypoints, a user interface operative to generate a control signal in response to a user input, a display configured to display a graphical user interface, a processor operative to receive the flight plan from the input, to generate the graphical user interface to include to the first waypoint and the second waypoint and to couple the graphical user interface to the display, the processor being further operative to generate the graphical user interface in to include the first waypoint and the third waypoint in response to the control signal and to couple the graphical user interface to the display.

Advanced flight guidance panel with display of future waypoints and constraints

The pilot communication system employs a transducer array of individual spaced apart speakers and/or microphones for deployment within the cockpit. A signal processing circuit interfaces with the transducer array and also with the aircraft avionics communication system, and selectively applies different time delays to the individual speakers and/or microphones to create in the array an acoustic beam having steerable coverage within the acoustic space of the cockpit. By adjusting the time delays the signal processing circuit directs and focuses sound from the speakers to the pilot and similarly focuses the microphones on the pilot's mouth. In this way the pilots can communicate with each other and with air traffic control without the need to wear headsets. The system also significantly reduces flight deck warnings from being introduced into the cabin environment.

Phased array speaker and microphone system for cockpit communication

A flight guidance panel includes a housing, a first flight guidance display, a second flight guidance display, a standby display, and a controller. The housing defines a first longitudinal side and a second longitudinal side. The first flight guidance display is disposed in the first longitudinal side of the housing and the second flight guidance display is disposed in the second longitudinal side of the housing. The standby display is disposed between the first flight guidance display and the second flight guidance display. The controller is configured for generating at least one functional panel indicating flight parameters on the first flight guidance display and on the second flight guidance display. The controller is further configured for generating standby flight information for presentation on the standby display.

Aircraft flight guidance panels with integrated standby displays

A system and a method for drone detection and collision avoidance, particularly for use in an aircraft, is provided. The system includes, but is not limited to a sensor, a processor, and an avoidance unit comprising a control unit. The sensor is configured to detect a drone signal in a predetermined space and to transmit the drone signal to the processor. The processor is configured to determine the presence of a drone in the predetermined space based on the drone signal. The processor is configured to transmit a command to the avoidance unit when the processor determines the presence of a drone. The control unit is configured to receive the command and to generate a warning signal in response to receiving the command.

Growing community of inventors

Savannah, GA, United States of America

Jim Jordan