Distributed Acceleration Sensing for UAV Gust Rejection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and small-unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) face challenges in stability and gust rejection due to atmospheric turbulence and cluttered environments, with traditional inertial navigation systems incurring latency and existing proprioceptive sensing methods requiring complex structural and aerodynamic modeling.
Innovation Solution
A distributed acceleration-sensing system comprising a rate gyroscope and multiple accelerometers positioned around the center of gravity, with a processor generating actuation signals for the aircraft flight controller to adjust control signals based on feedback, enabling direct force and torque estimation and robust disturbance rejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional inertial navigation systems are used for vehicle stabilization, then vehicle stability is maintained, but latency in attitude correction occurs due to measurement lag
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by measuring angular acceleration directly before attitude deviations occur. The angular acceleration sensor detects disturbance moments in advance, allowing the control system to initiate corrective actions before the vehicle attitude actually deviates, thus eliminating the measurement lag inherent in traditional INS that only detect errors after they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent skips the intermediate measurement step of traditional INS by directly measuring angular acceleration. Instead of measuring position and velocity then differentiating to get acceleration (which introduces latency and integration drift), the system rushes through to direct acceleration measurement, providing immediate disturbance detection and faster correction response.
2Measurement precision
If strain and pressure-based proprioceptive sensing methods are used for gust rejection, then disturbance detection capability is improved, but structural and aerodynamic modeling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential measurement function from complex strain and pressure-based systems by using a dedicated angular acceleration sensor that directly measures disturbance moments. This eliminates the need for complex structural and aerodynamic modeling required by strain gauge and pressure sensor systems, while maintaining high disturbance detection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical strain measurement systems with a direct angular acceleration sensing approach. Instead of using strain gauges embedded in wings that require structural modeling to interpret forces, the system uses angular acceleration sensors that directly measure rotational acceleration, substituting a simpler sensing mechanism for the complex mechanical system.
3Weight of moving object
If small UAV platforms are used to meet size and payload constraints, then platform compactness is achieved, but gust rejection capability deteriorates due to sensor latency and noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental sensing parameter from position/velocity measurement (traditional INS) to direct angular acceleration measurement. This parameter change enables small UAVs to achieve effective gust rejection because angular acceleration sensors provide immediate disturbance detection without the latency and noise accumulation inherent in differentiating position data on small, noisy platforms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements direct feedback of angular acceleration measurements to the control system. By continuously measuring angular acceleration and immediately feeding this information back for correction, small UAVs can actively compensate for gusts and disturbances in real-time, overcoming the inherent limitations of small platform sensors through active feedback control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides improved vehicle stability and gust rejection with reduced latency and noise, expanding flight envelopes and enabling operation in challenging environments, while being compact and resource-efficient for small platforms.
Implementation Method 1
a rate gyroscope with accelerometers placed at distributed locations around the rate gyroscope
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of accelerometers collectively measure at least nine independent axial acceleration measurements
Data Source
AI summary
An aerial vehicle comprising an airframe, an aircraft flight controller to provide an output control signal, and a planar printed circuit board positioned on the airframe. The printed circuit board may include coupled thereto a processor, a rate gyroscope, and at least three accelerometers. The processor is configured to generate an actuation signal based at least in part on a feedback signal received from at least one of said rate gyroscope and the at least three accelerometers. The processor communicates the actuation signal to said aircraft flight controller, which is configured to adjust the output control signal based on said actuation signal.