Integrated flight information and control system

Apparatus for determining the conventional attitude of an aircraft undergoing arbitrary flight path maneuvers, comprising:

• A. means providing measurement of the stability axis flight path velocity and acceleration of the aircraft in a first, locally stationary frame;
• B. means for determining the stability axis flight path angle of the aircraft in a second, stability frame, from orthogonal velocity components measured in said first frame;
• C. means for determining the roll of the aircraft in said second frame in an arbitrary but balanced banking maneuver from the aircraft velocity measured in said first frame, the lift in said second frame as determined from the normal flight path acceleration component in said second frame, and the gravitational acceleration component in said second frame normal to the flight path;
• D. means for determining the angle-of-attack of said aircraft;
• and
• E. means for transforming the pitch and roll in said second frame to a third, body-axis frame in accordance with said angle of attack.

A method of navigating a vehicle through space along an arbitrary flight path while undergoing arbitrary but balanced maneuvers with respect to a reference frame, comprising:

• A. repeatedly measuring at least one of position or velocity of the vehicle as it undergoes said maneuvers;
• B. forming estimates of the velocity and acceleration of said vehicle at said positions from said measurements;
• C. determining the stability axis flight path angle γ from said velocity estimates;
• D. determining from said velocity and acceleration estimates a local horizontal reference corresponding thereto;
• E. determining the stability axis roll angle Us with respect to said local horizontal reference;
• F. navigating said vehicle in accordance with the calculated flight path angle γ and stability axis roll angle φs.