Method of operating a vehicle
AssigneeGE Aviation Systems LLC
InventorsSpiro P. Karatsinides, Gregory A. Stark
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft includes at least one source collecting a set of navigational parameters of the aircraft, the at least one source obtaining flight data for the aircraft and including at least one of a global positioning system, an inertial reference system, or a sensor. The aircraft further includes a flight control computer communicatively coupled to the source and including a first processor and a first memory having a machine-readable medium, as well as a flight management system communicatively coupled to the flight control computer.
Claims20
An aircraft, comprising:
- at least one source collecting a set of navigational parameters of the aircraft, the at least one source obtaining flight data for the aircraft and comprising at least one of a global positioning system, an inertial reference system, or a sensor;
- a flight control computer communicatively coupled to the source and comprising a first processor and a first memory having a machine-readable medium;
- and
- a flight management system communicatively coupled to the flight control computer and comprising a second processor and a second memory having a machine-readable medium;
- wherein at least one of the first processor or the second processor is configured to:
- collect the set of navigation parameters of the aircraft from the at least one source;
- apply a correction to each navigational parameter in the set of navigational parameters to determine a corresponding set of preliminary navigational solutions;
- determine a statistical uncertainty corresponding to each preliminary navigational solution in the set of preliminary navigational solutions to define a set of statistical uncertainties;
- associate a statistical weight to each navigational parameter in the set of navigational parameters, based on the set of statistical uncertainties, to define a set of statistical weights;
- blend the set of preliminary navigational solutions, based on the set of statistical weights, to determine a single navigational solution for the aircraft;
- and
- operating the aircraft in accordance with the single navigational solution.
A flight controller for an aircraft, comprising:
- a memory comprising a machine-readable medium;
- and
- a processor having access to the memory and receiving a set of navigational parameters for the aircraft comprising at least one of a position, a velocity, an acceleration, an angular rate, a heading, a bearing, an attitude, an orientation, or a reference frame;
- wherein the processor is configured to:
- collect the received set of navigation parameters of the aircraft;
- apply a correction to each navigational parameter in the set of navigational parameters to determine a corresponding set of preliminary navigational solutions;
- determine a statistical uncertainty corresponding to each preliminary navigational solution in the set of preliminary navigational solutions to define a set of statistical uncertainties;
- associate a statistical weight to each navigational parameter in the set of navigational parameters, based on the set of statistical uncertainties, to define a set of statistical weights;
- blend the set of preliminary navigational solutions, based on the set of statistical weights, to determine a single navigational solution for the aircraft;
- and
- operating the aircraft in accordance with the single navigational solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.