Emergency control of an aircraft
AssigneeBAE SYSTEMS plc
InventorsMatthew Frank Offredi, Clive David Goodchild
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft emergency control system comprises at least one sensor (104A, 104B, 104C) configured to output an electronic signal relating to detection of incapacitation of at least one aircraft crew member. A processor (108) is configured to receive and process the electronic signal to determine whether emergency action is to be taken. A control unit (114) is configured to communicate, in use, a control signal to an avionics system (116) of the aircraft (100) in relation to the emergency action if the processor determines that emergency action is to be taken.
Claims20
An aircraft emergency control system, the system comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to output an electronic signal relating to detection of incapacitation of at least one aircraft crew member;
- a processor configured to receive and process the electronic signal to determine whether an emergency action is to be taken and to generate a plurality of emergency routes for flying the aircraft to an emergency landing destination;
- and
- a control unit configured to communicate, in use, a control signal to an avionics system of the aircraft in relation to the emergency action if the processor determines that the emergency action is to be taken,
- wherein one of emergency routes is selected in response to taking the emergency action based on a score assigned to each of a plurality of sections of each of the emergency routes.
A computer-implemented method of aircraft emergency control, the method comprising:
- receiving an electronic signal relating to detection of incapacitation of at least one aircraft crew member;
- processing the electronic signal to determine whether an emergency action is to be taken and to generate a plurality of emergency routes for flying the aircraft to an emergency landing destination;
- and
- if the processing determines that the emergency action is to be taken then communicating, in use, a control signal to an avionics system of the aircraft in relation to the emergency action,
- wherein one of emergency routes is selected in response to taking the emergency action based on a score assigned to each of a plurality of sections of each of the emergency routes.
A computer program product including one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a process to be carried out for aircraft emergency control, the process comprising:
- receiving an electronic signal relating to detection of incapacitation of at least one aircraft crew member;
- processing the electronic signal to determine whether an emergency action is to be taken and to generate a plurality of emergency routes for flying the aircraft to an emergency landing destination;
- and
- if the processing determines that the emergency action is to be taken then communicating, in use, a control signal to an avionics system of the aircraft in relation to the emergency action,
- wherein one of emergency routes is selected in response to taking the emergency action based on a score assigned to each of a plurality of sections of each of the emergency routes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.