Systems and methods for the autonomous transition of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft
AssigneeBeta Air, LLC
InventorHerman Wiegman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for autonomous flight of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The system may include a fuselage, a plurality of laterally extending elements, a plurality of propulsors, a flight controller, and a pilot override switch. The plurality of laterally extending elements are attached to the fuselage. The plurality of propulsors is attached to the plurality of laterally extending elements. The flight controller is communicatively connected to the pilot override switch. The flight controller is configured to identify a flight transition point, initiate rotation about an axis of the fuselage a as function of the flight transition point, and terminate rotation once the desired flight angle is reached.
Claims20
A system for flight control of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the system comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a plurality of laterally extending elements secured to the fuselage;
- a plurality of propulsors attached to the plurality of laterally extending elements, wherein the plurality of propulsors are configured to rotate between a lift position to a forward thrust position;
- a flight controller including a reconfigurable hardware platform, the reconfigurable hardware platform containing hardware circuitry configured to:
- identify a flight transition point;
- determine a segmentation boundary of a segmented control algorithm, wherein the segmentation boundary includes a boundary associated with an ability of a propulsor of the plurality of propulsors;
- distribute a plurality of commands based on the flight transition point and the segmentation boundary to a cluster of flight controllers, wherein each flight controller of the cluster of flight controllers operates a propulsor of the plurality of propulsors;
- perform a flight maneuver based on the plurality of commands, wherein performing a flight maneuver includes performing a flight transition, wherein the flight transition includes:
- initiating rotation about an axis of the fuselage as a function of the flight transition point;
- and
- terminating rotation about the axis of the fuselage once a desired flight angle is reached.
A method for flight control of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the method comprising:
- identifying, by a flight controller having a reconfigurable hardware platform, the reconfigurable hardware platform containing reconfigurable hardware circuitry, wherein the flight controller is incorporated in an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft having a plurality of propulsors configured to rotate between a lift position to a forward thrust position, a flight transition point;
- determining a segmentation boundary of a segmented control algorithm, wherein the segmentation boundary includes a boundary associated with an ability of a propulsor of the plurality of propulsors;
- distributing a plurality of commands based on the flight transition point and the segmentation boundary to a cluster of flight controllers, wherein each flight controller of the cluster of flight controllers operates a propulsor of the plurality of propulsors;
- performing a flight maneuver based on the plurality of commands, wherein performing the flight maneuver includes performing a flight transition, wherein the flight transition includes:
- initiating, by the flight controller, rotation about an axis of the fuselage as a function of the flight transition point;
- and
- terminating, by the flight controller, rotation about the axis of the fuselage once a desired flight angle is reached, as a function of the flight transition point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.