The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 18, 2023
Filed:
Dec. 23, 2020
Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US);
John Robert Wittmaak, Jr., Newark, TX (US);
Russell C. Peters, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Aaron Hitchcock, Fort Worth, TX (US);
William Ben Johns, Little Elm, TX (US);
Levi Charles Hefner, Dallas, TX (US);
Andrew Vincent Louis, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US);
Abstract
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.