Angle-Of-Attack Flight Computer Systems and Methods
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorKip Gregory Campbell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to one implementation of the present disclosure, a method for determining angle-of-attack for an unpowered vehicle is disclosed. The method includes: determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot; during flight, determining, by an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, where the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively; determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.
Claims20
A method for determining an angle-of-attack for an unpowered vehicle, comprising:
- determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
- during flight, determining, by an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factors, respectively;
- determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot;
- and
- determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.
A flight computer system comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory accessible to the processor, the memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
- during flight, receiving from an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively;
- determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot;
- and
- determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- determine a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot;
- during flight, receive from an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, wherein the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively;
- determine an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot;
- and
- determine an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.