United Technologies Corporation

Other

Lorren Stiles

Howard P Harper

Bruce E Hamilton

Joseph A Post

Thomas Wright

Phillip J Gold

Nicholas D Lappos

James J Licari

Gregory P Wright

Robert C Kass

Scott R Smith

Patricia A Casper

Robert E Spero

A mission computer (10) stores a nominal route plan which includes information indicative of the precise arrival time at specific navigation positions, e.g., waypoints, and the planned fuel consumption during travel to the specified waypoints. The mission computer (10) provides a time and fuel display system (15) with the route plan information. The time and fuel display system (15) generates a display (200) which indicates the total distance to be traveled during the mission (202), a distance traveled indicator (212) to reflect the progress of the aircraft along the mission, and a time bar (205) and a fuel bar (207) the height of which with respect to the indicator (212) are indicative of the percentage that the current time and fuel values are over or under the planned values for the current waypoint. The distance traveled indicator (212) is labeled with a waypoint designation (215) which is indicative of the designation of the waypoint towards which the aircraft is currently flying. A mission time display (220) and a fuel reserve display (223 ) provide a visual indication of the planned arrival time at the final destination and the planned fuel reserve upon arrival at the final destination. A Bingo fuel indicator (225) is provided to indicate the amount of fuel required to fly a direct route, at maximum range airspeed, to the mission end point with a planned fuel reserve.

Time and fuel display

A vertical control system for a rotary winged aircraft receives inputs from a displacement collective stick and a sidearm controller. The system provides a set point for the vertical rate of change of the helicopter as a function of a vertical lift command signal from the sidearm controller. The set point is used as a reference for an altitude rate of change feedback path, and an integrated value of the set point is used for an altitude feedback path. The set point is also input to a feedforward control path having an inverse vehicle model to provide a command signal indicative of the command for aircraft collective pitch necessary to achieve the desired set point. Signals from all three paths (i.e., the altitude rate of change feedback path, the altitude feedback path, and the feedforward path) are summed to provide a signal to backdrive the displacement collective which controls main rotor collective pitch.

Vertical control system for rotary wing aircraft

In a dual station sidearm control system, a pilot control station provides pilot control signals in response to pilot activation of a pilot sidearm controller (210) and a co-pilot station provides co-pilot control signals in response to co-pilot activation of a co-pilot sidearm controller (211). The pilot control signals and the co-pilot control signals are combined (220) to provide dual station control signals for controlling aircraft attitude in the yaw, pitch, roll and lift attitude axes. A priority detector function (222) is responsive to pilot control signals in one of the attitude axes for reducing the priority of co-pilot control signals with respect to pilot control signals in the one attitude axis as the magnitude of pilot control signals increases in the one attitude axis. An attenuator function (225) is responsive to co-pilot control signals in the one attitude axis for attenuating the priority mismatch between pilot control signals and co-pilot control signals as the magnitude of co-pilot control signals increases in the one attitude axis.

Control of pilot control station authority for a dual piloted flight

An integrated time/limit exceedance cue system including a plurality of dedicated subsystem sensors, a processing unit, and a graphics generating/processing unit that is operative to generate an event dependent, time varying visual cue indicative of the exceedance of an established normal operating limit of a specific aircraft subsystem and operation thereof in a time critical exceedance condition. The time varying visual cue provides a relative indication of the elapsed time of operation of the specific subsystem in the time critical exceedance condition. The time varying visual cue is a symbolic image in the form of an outline, having a predetermined length, that defines a void region. The void region is proportionately opaqued or 'filled in' in correspondence with the elapsed time of operation of the specific subsystem in the time critical exceedance condition. The outline of the visual cue may be shaped and/or have a spatial orientation that is cognitively connected to the particular subsystem and/or to a symbolic image or display representing the specific generated status data provided by the dedicated subsystem sensors for monitoring the operation of the particular subsystem. The cue system may provide a corrective action cue in conjunction with the time varying visual cue that provides information as to the appropriate recovery procedure to restore the particular subsystem to operation within its established normal operating range.

Integrated time/limit exceedance cue system

A virtual image display system provides video displays based upon virtual images of the external world having synchronized structural outlines superimposed on the video displays to a pilot operating an aircraft such as a helicopter in non-visual flight conditions. The virtual image display system includes a virtual imaging subsystem for generating virtual images of the external world, a video display subsystem for generating video images based upon the virtual images and for displaying the video images for the pilot's viewing, a sensing means for providing signals corresponding to the spatial location and perspective of the video display subsystem, a map comprising structural outlines corresponding to structural members forming the canopy structure of the helicopter, and a computer subsystem providing electronic interfacing between the elements of the virtual image display system, for synchronizing the orientation of the virtual imaging subsystem with the video display subsystem, and for processing the virtual image signals to provide signals to the video display subsystem to generate video displays. The computer utilizes the helmet position signals to define the relative position and orientation of the video display subsystem in the cockpit, and utilizes such definition to reconstruct structural outlines from the map that are synchronized to the perspective of the video images. The synchronized structural images are superimposed upon the video display.

Helicopter virtual image display system incorporating structural outlines

A power management symbology (PMS) display system for helicopters that provides a continually updated, combined analog/digital symbolic display of selected status information vis-a-vis the helicopter powerplant. The PMS display system includes a multi-dimensional, continuously updated, combined analog/digital display symbol that is optimized for discriminability and compatibility with respect to the pilot's visual system. The power management symbol includes a first dimension that is a static, analog representation of 120 percent nominal torque rating of the helicopter powerplant that functions as a referent, a second dimension that is a dynamic, analog representation of the maximum continuous power available from the powerplant, a third dimension that is a dynamic, analog representation of the power required to hover OGE, a fourth dimension that is a dynamic, digital/analog representation of the average instantaneous power being provided by the powerplant, and a fifth dimension that is an analog representation of a 'torque split' condition of the powerplant that is only visible when the individual power outputs between the engines of the powerplant exceed a predetermined threshold differential. The PMS display system further includes a computer means, first and second sensor subsystems, a video display subsystem, and a sensing subsystem which, in combination, generate a synchronized video image of the power management symbol for the video display subsystem.

Power management symbology display system

Images are provided to a pilot in an aircraft overflying the earth by means of a helmet mounted display system. The position and attitude of the aircraft with respect to the earth and the attitude of the helmet with respect to the aircraft are monitored in order to convert a plurality of stored earth position signals into helmet coordinates. Earth points which are viewable by the pilot are displayed using symbolic images thereof such that the symbolic images coincide, from the pilot's point of view, with the actual positions of the viewable points on the earth.

Contact-analog headup display method and apparatus

A control arrangement for use in conjunction with a flight control computer operating in response to various input signals including those received from a collective stick to control the flight regime of a helicopter, which is operative for causing the helicopter to perform bob-up and bob-down maneuvers, includes a circuitry which generates a first control signal when the helicopter is to perform a bob-up maneuver from its instantaneous altitude to a higher altitude, stores data descriptive of at least one instantaneous altitude at the time of commencement of the first control signal; issues in response to the first control signal, an ascent command signal representative of a helicopter ascent at a maximum permissible ascent rate; generates a second control signal when the helicopter is to perform a bob-down maneuver from the higher altitude to that stored in the storing means; issues, in response to the second control signal, a descent command signal representative of a helicopter descent at a maximum permissible descent rate; and supplies the respective one of the ascent and descent command signals as an additional input signal to the flight control computer for use in controlling the flight regime of the helicopter in accordance therewith.

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Roxbury, CT, United States of America

Lorren Stiles