Heading control system
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorsGeorge Howell, Andrew Hebborn, James Kirrane, Stephen Daniel Pollard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heading control system for an aircraft arranged to maintain a heading of an aircraft by controlling a nose wheel angle of the aircraft. The heading control system includes an interface arranged to receive a bias signal indicating a bias towards the port or the starboard of the aircraft and one or more processors. The one or more processors are arranged to determine, based on the bias signal, an offset angle defining an offset from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft and to perform a control process to control the nose wheel angle within an angular range based on the offset angle.
Claims18
A heading control system for an aircraft, the heading control system configured to maintain a heading of the aircraft by controlling a nose gear wheel angle of the aircraft, wherein the aircraft has a port side engine on a port side of the aircraft and a starboard side engine on a starboard side of the aircraft, the heading control system comprising:
- an interface configured to receive a bias signal indicating a bias force towards port or starboard of the aircraft,
- an automated steering system of the aircraft, and
- one or more processors configured to:
- determine whether the aircraft is operating in a first mode, in which the port engine and the starboard engine are both generating thrust to move the aircraft along the heading, or in a second mode, in which the either the port engine or the starboard engine is generating thrust to move the aircraft along the heading;
- while the aircraft is in the first mode, perform a control process to constrain turning of the nose gear wheel by the automated steering system to within a first angular range centered on the longitudinal axis of the aircraft;
- and
- determine, based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the second mode, an offset angle defining an offset from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft;
- and
- based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the second mode, perform a control process to constrain turning of the nose gear wheel by the automated steering system to within a second angular range centered on the offset angle,
- wherein the control process to constrain turning prevents the automated steering system turning the nose gear wheel beyond the first angular range centered on the longitudinal axis during the first mode and prevents the nose gear wheel turning beyond the second angular range offset from the longitudinal axis during the second mode.
A method of operating a heading control system of an aircraft, wherein the aircraft has a port side engine on a port side of the aircraft and a starboard side engine on a starboard side of the aircraft, the method comprising:
- receiving a bias signal indicating a bias force towards port or starboard of the aircraft;
- determine if the aircraft is in a first mode, in which the port side engine and the starboard side engine are both generating thrust to move the aircraft along the heading, or in a second mode, in which either the port side engine or the starboard side engine is generating thrust to move the aircraft along the heading;
- based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the first mode, constraining the turning of the nose gear wheel to confine an angle of the nose gear wheel to within a first angular range centered on a longitudinal axis of the aircraft;
- generating, based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the second mode, an offset angle defining an offset from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft;
- based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the second mode, constraining the turning of the nose gear wheel to confine the angle of the nose gear wheel to within a second angular range centered on the offset angle, and
- turning a nose gear wheel-so that the turning of the nose gear wheel is constrained to the first angular range during the first mode and to the second angular range during the second mode.
A computer program stored on a non-transitory memory and which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
- receive a bias signal indicating a bias force towards port or starboard of an aircraft
- determine if the aircraft is a first mode, in which a port side engine on a port side of the aircraft and a starboard side engine on a starboard side of the aircraft are both generating thrust to move the aircraft along a heading, or a second mode, in which either the port side engine or the starboard side engine is generating thrust to move the aircraft along the heading;
- based on the bias signal and while the aircraft is in the second mode, define an offset angle from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft,
- cause an automated steering system of the aircraft to turn a nose gear wheel, wherein the turning of the nose gear wheel is constrained to be within a first angular range centered on the longitudinal axis of the axis if the aircraft is in the first mode, and wherein the turning of the nose gear wheel is constrained to be within a second angular range centered on the offset angle if the aircraft is in the second mode, and
- wherein the control process to constrain turning prevents the automated steering system turning the nose gear wheel beyond the first angular range centered on the longitudinal axis during the first mode and beyond the second angular range centered on the offset angle during the second mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.