Aircraft sidestick priority and dual input control logic
AssigneeBombardier Inc.
InventorsBenoit OUELLETTE, Sophie DUCHESNE, Frederic LECOQ
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a fly-by-wire type of aircraft flight control system having a pair of sidesticks for pilot and co-pilot input, respectively, and having logic that controls the priority of input as between the two sidesticks in certain aircraft flight situations. It allows either the pilot or co-pilot to ensure that his/her sidestick is the only one issuing flight control commands at any one moment in time by first pressing a simple latch button located, for example, on the glareshield in the cockpit and then maneuvering the sidestick in the desired manner to effectuate flight control, e.g., pitch and/or roll, of the aircraft.
Claims33
A flight control system for an aircraft, comprising:
- a processor that processes a plurality of inputs from the aircraft, that contains a plurality of control laws that control operation of the aircraft, and that provides a plurality of outputs that control a plurality of devices located on the aircraft;
- a pair of first input devices, a first one of the first input devices controlled by a pilot of the aircraft, a second one of the first input devices controlled by a co-pilot of the aircraft, each one of the first input devices being operable to input a first control signal to the processor to cause the aircraft to be in a first priority control condition;
- and
- a pair of second input devices located apart from the pair of first input devices, a first one of the second input devices controlled by a pilot of the aircraft, a second one of the second input devices controlled by a co-pilot of the aircraft, each one of the second input devices being operable to input a second control signal to the processor to cause the aircraft to be in a second priority control condition.
A method for controlling a priority of input to an aircraft flight control system as between a pilot and a co-pilot each using two input devices associated with the pilot and the co-pilot, respectively, the method comprising the steps of:
- checking first if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using a first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using a second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, the second one of the two input devices being located apart from the first one of the two input devices;
- if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system, checking second if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning temporary priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested temporary priority of input;
- and
- if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using the second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning permanent priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested permanent priority of input.
A computer program product for controlling a priority of input to an aircraft flight control system as between a pilot and a co-pilot each using two input devices associated with the pilot and the co-pilot, respectively, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable/executable by a computer, processor or logic circuit to perform a method comprising the steps of:
- checking first if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using a first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using a second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, the second one of the two input devices being located apart from the first one of the two input devices;
- if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system, checking second if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot;
- if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning temporary priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested temporary priority of input;
- and
- if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using the second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning permanent priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested permanent priority of input.
-43. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.