Aircraft Flight Envelope Control With Analog Backup Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drone control systems are vulnerable to failures and interference, leading to potential collisions with aircraft or ground crashes due to unreliable height control and trim angle stabilization, especially when software-based backup systems are compromised by electronic failures or interference.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dual autopilot mode system that uses both digital and analog measurement systems to ensure safe flight control, switching to an analog backup system when digital measurements exceed predetermined limits or show significant discrepancies, thereby maintaining aircraft within authorized flight envelopes and preventing crashes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a digital flight control system is used for automatic piloting, then measurement precision and automation are improved, but reliability deteriorates due to vulnerability to electronic failures and interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the backup measurement system from digital to analog. The analog measurement system measures flight characteristics (pitch angle, roll angle, height) using continuous physical signals rather than discrete digital values, making it immune to electronic interference and software failures that affect digital systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The analog measurement system acts as an intermediary backup between the digital flight control system and the physical aircraft state. When the digital system fails, the analog system provides an independent measurement channel that mediates control decisions through the switch-over device, ensuring continuous safe operation.
2Reliability
If an analog backup measurement system is implemented, then reliability is improved through redundancy, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential measurement functions needed for safety (pitch angle, roll angle, height) into the analog backup system, rather than duplicating the entire digital flight control system. This selective extraction reduces complexity while maintaining reliability for critical functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The analog system creates a simplified copy of the essential flight characteristic measurements without replicating the complex digital processing chain. This analog copy provides sufficient information for safe operation while being inherently more robust to electronic failures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the flight control system switches between autopilot modes, then adaptability is improved to handle failures, but ease of operation deteriorates due to automatic mode switching
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control system performs self-diagnosis and automatic mode switching based on comparisons between digital and analog measurements. The switch-over device automatically detects discrepancies and transitions between first and second autopilot modes without requiring pilot intervention, making the system adapt to failures while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously compares measurements from digital and analog systems, using this feedback to automatically determine when to switch between autopilot modes. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables adaptive response to failures while removing the complexity of manual mode management from the pilot.
Data Source
AI summary
A safe control method and a safe control system for performing control relative to an authorized flight envelope of an aircraft. The aircraft includes a digital main measurement system for measuring flight characteristics of the aircraft, a flight control system for automatically piloting the aircraft, and said safe control system. The safe control system includes an analog backup measurement system that delivers at least one analog signal that is a function of the at least one flight characteristic, and a switch-over device that is configured so that the flight control system uses the at least one analog signal delivered by the backup measurement system for automatically piloting the aircraft whenever at least one flight characteristic of the aircraft exceeds a predetermined limit of the authorized flight envelope.