Vertical landing vehicle, situational awareness system, and method thereof
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsEric LIEBERMAN, William Brendan BLANTON
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vertical landing vehicle including an airframe forming a hull and having at least one wing coupled to the airframe, at least one proximity sensor coupled to the airframe, and a flight control system including a control processor and an operator interface, the at least one proximity sensor being coupled to the control processor, the control processor being configured to receive proximity signals from the at least one proximity sensor and present, through the operator interface and based on the proximity signals, situational awareness information of obstacles within a predetermined distance of the vertical landing vehicle relative to the hull and/or the at least one wing.
Claims20
A vertical landing vehicle comprising:
- an airframe forming a hull and having at least one wing coupled to the airframe;
- at least one proximity sensor coupled to the airframe;
- and
- a flight control system including a control processor and an operator interface, the at least one proximity sensor being coupled to the control processor, the control processor being configured to receive proximity signals from the at least one proximity sensor and present, through the operator interface and based on the proximity signals, situational awareness information of obstacles within a predetermined distance of the vertical landing vehicle relative to the hull and the at least one wing.
A situational awareness system for a vertical landing vehicle having an airframe forming a hull and having at least one wing coupled to the airframe, the situational awareness system comprising:
- at least one proximity sensor coupled to the airframe, the at least one proximity sensor being configured to sense obstacles around a perimeter of one or more of the hull and the at least one wing;
- and
- a flight control system including a control processor and an operator interface, the at least one proximity sensor being coupled to the control processor, the control processor being configured to receive proximity signals from the at least one proximity sensor and present, through the operator interface and based on the proximity signals, situational awareness information of obstacles within a predetermined distance of the perimeter of the one or more of the hull and the at least one wing.
A method for providing situational awareness to an operator of a vertical landing vehicle, the method comprising:
- coupling at least one proximity sensor to an airframe of the vertical landing vehicle, the airframe forming a hull and having at least one wing coupled to the airframe;
- receiving proximity signals from the at least one proximity sensor with a control processor of a flight control system of the vertical landing vehicle;
- and
- presenting with the control processor, through an operator interface of the flight control system and based on the proximity signals, situational awareness information of obstacles within a predetermined distance of the vertical landing vehicle relative to the hull and the at least one wing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.