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US 11,053,017 B1Granted
Rotor noise reduction using signal processing
AssigneeKitty Hawk Corporation
InventorCameron Robertson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle which includes a flight controller that is configured to receive one or more desired forces or moments associated with a plurality of rotors in the vehicle and determine a plurality of motor control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired forces or moments and an expected rotor noise produced by at least one of the plurality of rotors. The vehicle further includes the plurality of rotors, where the plurality of motor control signals is used to control the plurality of rotors.
Claims15
A vehicle, comprising:
- a flight controller that is configured to:
- receive one or more desired forces or moments associated with a plurality of rotors in the vehicle;
- determine a plurality of motor control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by performing thrust allocation using a feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block that finds the plurality of motor control signals that achieve the desired forces and moments and optimize a plurality of cost functions, including a control authority function and a noise function;
- determine if a moving window of past motor control signals satisfies a steady state criteria, wherein it is a necessary condition that the moving window of past motor control signals satisfies the steady state criteria in order for the plurality of motor control signals to be determined based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by performing thrust allocation using the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block;
- and
- in the event it is determined that the moving window of past motor control signals does not satisfy the steady state criteria, determine the plurality of motor control signals based at least in part on the desired forces or moments and without the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block taking into account the noise function;
- and
- the plurality of rotors, wherein the plurality of motor control signals is used to control the plurality of rotors.
5 more elements
A method, comprising:
- receiving one or more desired forces or moments associated with a plurality of rotors in a vehicle;
- determining a plurality of motor control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by:
- performing thrust allocation using a feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block that finds the plurality of motor control signals that achieve the desired forces and moments and optimize a plurality of cost functions, including a control authority function and a noise function;
- determining if a moving window of past motor control signals satisfies a steady state criteria, wherein it is a necessary condition that the moving window of past motor control signals satisfies the steady state criteria in order for the plurality of motor control signals to be determined based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by performing thrust allocation using the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block;
- and
- in the event it is determined that the moving window of past motor control signals does not satisfy the steady state criteria, determining the plurality of motor control signals based at least in part on the desired forces or moments and without the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block taking into account the noise function;
- and
- controlling the plurality of rotors using the plurality of motor control signals.
5 more elements
A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:
- receiving one or more desired forces or moments associated with a plurality of rotors in a vehicle;
- determining a plurality of motor control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by:
- performing thrust allocation using a feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block that finds the plurality of motor control signals that achieve the desired forces and moments and optimize a plurality of cost functions, including a control authority function and a noise function;
- determining if a moving window of past motor control signals satisfies a steady state criteria, wherein it is a necessary condition that the moving window of past motor control signals satisfies the steady state criteria in order for the plurality of motor control signals to be determined based at least in part on the desired forces or moments, including by performing thrust allocation using the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block;
- and
- in the event it is determined that the moving window of past motor control signals does not satisfy the steady state criteria, determining the plurality of motor control signals based at least in part on the desired forces or moments and without the feed-forward, multi-function thrust allocation optimization block taking into account the noise function;
- and
- controlling the plurality of rotors using the plurality of motor control signals.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.