Autoflight Energy Management Using Potential Flight Path Angle
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current autoflight and autothrust systems in aircraft lack effective coordination, leading to operational limitations in managing energy and maintaining speed-on-throttle control during climbs and descents, as each function can drive the other to its limits without seamless adjustment.
Innovation Solution
A flight control system with a control module that processes target airspeed and autoflight control mode inputs to generate coordinated autoflight and autothrust commands, utilizing potential flight path angle (FPA) cues to manage energy by converting vertical targets into active commands and presenting them on a primary flight display, thereby integrating autoflight and autothrust functions for enhanced energy management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autoflight and autothrust functions operate independently with separate control targets, then each function can be optimized for its specific control task, but coordination between the functions is limited and each function drives the other to its operational limits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the previously independent autoflight and autothrust control functions into a unified energy management system. The energy management module integrates both functions and coordinates them through a common energy state assessment, allowing seamless transitions between speed-on-throttle and speed-on-elevator modes without manual intervention or operational limits.
Solution Approach 2:
The energy management system serves as a universal coordinating mechanism that handles both autoflight and autothrust functions. It assesses the aircraft's overall energy state and dynamically adjusts both vertical guidance and thrust commands based on this unified assessment, making the system adaptable to various flight conditions and modes.
2Productivity
If the system automatically adjusts targets to maintain speed-on-throttle control, then energy management is improved, but the complexity of coordinating active targets for each function increases
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system continuously monitors the aircraft's energy state, including parameters such as airspeed, vertical speed, and thrust settings. This feedback loop allows the system to automatically assess whether the aircraft is in an energy-rich or energy-poor state and dynamically adjust the control mode accordingly, maintaining optimal energy management without requiring complex manual coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transitions between different control modes (speed-on-throttle and speed-on-elevator) based on the assessed energy state. This dynamic adaptability allows the system to optimize energy management in real-time, automatically adjusting which function controls speed and which controls vertical path, thereby reducing the apparent complexity of coordination while maintaining high productivity.
3Extent of automation
If separate vertical guidance and thrust control commands are generated independently, then each control function operates autonomously, but coordination between autoflight and autothrust is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management module acts as an intermediary between the autonomous autoflight and autothrust functions. It receives inputs from both functions, assesses the overall energy state, and generates coordinated commands that ensure both functions work together harmoniously. This intermediary layer maintains the autonomy of individual control functions while ensuring their reliable coordination through energy state-based decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for an energy managed autoflight function that enables maneuvers previously done by the speed-on-elevator modes to be achieved while maintaining the autoflight function in speed-on-throttle mode. An autoflight guidance algorithm and strategy replaces speed-on-elevator modes with an automatic flight path angle (Auto-FPA) mode that can control speed-controlled climbs and descents. The autoflight guidance algorithm and strategy provide (i) autothrust and autoflight coordination during speed-on-throttle modes, (ii) and Auto-FPA control law or mode, (iii) the Auto-FPA control law being configurable for fixed thrust modes, and (iv) a speed protection monitoring scheme.