Decoupled hand controls for aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing and forward flight capabilities
AssigneeKitty Hawk Corporation
InventorsAlexander David Selwa, Todd Reichert, Mark Johnson Cutler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with an aircraft are received, where the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane. A roll angle offset is determined based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate. A desired roll angle is determined based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via a hand control. A plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors is determined based at least in part on the desired roll angle.
Claims10
A system, comprising:
- an interface that receives a forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
- and
- a processor that:
- determines a roll angle offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate;
- determines a desired roll angle based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via a hand control;
- and
- determines a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired roll angle.
A method, comprising:
- receiving a forward velocity and a yaw rate associated with an aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes a multicopter with a plurality of rotors which rotate in a substantially horizontal plane;
- determining a roll angle offset based at least in part on the forward velocity and the yaw rate;
- determining a desired roll angle based at least in part on the roll angle offset and a roll angle specified via a hand control;
- and
- determining a plurality of control signals for the plurality of rotors based at least in part on the desired roll angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.