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US 2019/0155282 A1Published application
Aircraft control mode transition smoothing
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorSung Kyun Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating an aircraft includes operating the aircraft in a first mode including determining an attitude based on a pilot stick signal, where a translational speed or an attitude of the aircraft is proportional to an amplitude of the pilot stick signal in the first mode; transitioning from the first mode to a second mode when a velocity of the aircraft exceeds a first velocity threshold; and operating the aircraft in the second mode where the output of the rate controller is proportional to the amplitude of the pilot stick signal.
Claims27
A method of operating an aircraft, the method comprising:
- operating the aircraft in a first mode comprising
- determining an attitude based on a pilot stick signal generated by a pilot stick assembly,
- determining a first rate command based on the determined attitude using an attitude controller,
- determining an actuator command based on the determined first rate command, determining the actuator command comprising using a rate controller having an integrator, and
- providing an output of the rate controller to an actuator, wherein a translational speed or an attitude of the aircraft is proportional to an amplitude of the pilot stick signal in the first mode;
- transitioning from the first mode to a second mode when a velocity of the aircraft exceeds a first velocity threshold, transitioning comprising
- fading out a gain of the attitude controller over a first period of time;
- and
- operating the aircraft in the second mode comprising providing the pilot stick signal to an input of the rate controller, wherein the output of the rate controller is proportional to the amplitude of the pilot stick signal.
6 more elements
A flight control system for an aircraft comprising:
- a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, the executable program including instructions to:
- receive a pilot control signal via a first interface of the processor;
- in a first mode
- determine an attitude based on the received pilot control signal,
- determine a first rate command based on the determined attitude using an attitude controller,
- determine an actuator command based on the determined first rate command, determining the actuator command comprising executing a rate controller that has an integrator, and
- providing an output of the rate controller to an actuator via a second interface of the processor, wherein a state of the aircraft corresponding to the attitude is configured to be proportional to the received pilot control signal;
- and
- transitioning from the first mode to a second mode when a first condition of the aircraft crosses a first predetermined threshold, transitioning comprising
- fading out a gain of the attitude controller over a first period of time, and
- decreasing a value of the integrator over a second period of time;
- and
- in the second mode, providing the pilot control signal to an input of the rate controller, wherein the output of the rate controller is proportional to the received pilot control signal.
10 more elements
A rotorcraft comprising:
- a body;
- a power train coupled to the body and comprising a power source and a drive shaft coupled to the power source;
- a rotor system coupled to the power train and comprising a plurality of rotor blades;
- a flight control system operable to change at least one operating condition of the rotor system;
- a pilot control assembly configured to receive commands from a pilot, wherein the flight control system is a fly-by-wire flight control system in electrical communication with the pilot control assembly;
- and
- a flight control computer in electrical communication between the flight control system and the pilot control assembly, the flight control computer configured to:
- receive, from the pilot control assembly a pilot command to change a first flight characteristic,
- when a velocity of the rotorcraft is less than a first velocity threshold, interpret the first flight characteristic as a requested translational speed or as a requested attitude in a first mode, determine a controlled attitude based on the requested translational speed or the requested attitude using an attitude controller, determining a first rate command based on the determined attitude, and determine an actuator command based on the determined rate command using a rate controller;
- when the velocity of the rotorcraft is greater than a second velocity threshold, interpret the first flight characteristic as a rate in a second mode by providing the pilot command to the rate controller, and
- when the velocity of the rotorcraft increases past the second velocity threshold, fade out a gain of the attitude controller, and successively decrease a value of an integrator in the rate controller.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.