Camera-Assisted VTOL Navigation for Payload-Adaptive Flight Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft face challenges in accurately determining their location and adjusting flight control gains due to varying payload weights and center of gravity (CG) locations, especially when dealing with unique payloads, which can affect precision landings and stability.
Innovation Solution
The aircraft employs a navigation system that includes cameras to capture images of its environment and a processing component to determine its location, along with a flight control system (FCS) that performs a series of maneuvers to evaluate its weight, CG, and payload inertia, using lookup tables or numerical models to adjust control gains for optimal operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If VTOL aircraft use positioning systems for location determination, then navigation capability is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to signal loss and unavailability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces cameras as an intermediary system to capture images of the environment, which are then processed to determine aircraft location. This intermediary imaging system provides an alternative method for location determination that does not rely on external positioning signals, thereby maintaining navigation capability when primary positioning systems become unavailable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the electronic signal-based positioning system with an optical-mechanical system using cameras and image processing. By substituting the electronic positioning method with optical image capture and computational analysis, the system achieves location determination through a fundamentally different mechanism that is not subject to the same signal loss vulnerabilities.
2Adaptability or versatility
If VTOL aircraft operate with varying payload weights and CG locations, then operational versatility is improved, but flight stability and control precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic control system that automatically adjusts flight control gains based on real-time detection of payload weight and center of gravity location. The system transitions from static, fixed control parameters to dynamic, adaptive parameters that change in response to varying payload configurations, thereby maintaining flight stability across different operational conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs feedback mechanisms where the flight control system continuously monitors aircraft behavior and payload characteristics, then uses this information to adjust control gains. This closed-loop feedback approach enables the system to compensate for varying payload weights and CG locations, maintaining optimal stability and control precision throughout flight operations.
3Device complexity
If VTOL aircraft use traditional navigation systems without image capture, then system complexity is reduced, but location determination reliability deteriorates under varying conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the camera system multi-functional by using it not only for potential navigation assistance but also for evaluating payload weight and center of gravity through image analysis. This universal system serves multiple purposes: enhanced location determination, payload characterization, and flight control optimization, thereby improving reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
One embodiment is a navigation system for an aircraft including a positioning system to generate information related to a position of the aircraft, a group of cameras mounted to a body of the aircraft, each camera of the group of cameras to simultaneously capture images of a portion of an environment that surrounds the aircraft, and a processing component coupled to the positioning system and the group of cameras, the processing component to determine a current position of the aircraft based on the information related to the position of the aircraft and the images.