Vertical Landing Situational Awareness for Obstacle-Guided Landings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vertical landing vehicles face challenges in high workload situations, particularly during pinnacles and landings in degraded visual environments, where crew members struggle to accurately provide feedback on obstacles, leading to potential blade strikes and other hazards.
Innovation Solution
A situational awareness system integrated into the vertical landing vehicle, featuring proximity sensors coupled to the airframe and a flight control system, which provides crew members with visual, aural, and tactile cues on obstacles within a predetermined distance, reducing the need for manual terrain spotting and enhancing landing accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a crew member partially exits the vertical landing vehicle to view underneath and provide verbal feedback on obstacles, then situational awareness of obstacles is improved, but crew workload increases and accuracy decreases in degraded visual environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of crew members exiting the vehicle to visually inspect terrain with an automated sensor system. Proximity sensors, radar, and other detection devices automatically measure distances to obstacles and relay this information to the flight crew through the display system, eliminating the need for crew members to physically exit the vehicle and reducing workload while maintaining or improving detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system between the crew and the external environment. The proximity sensors and processing systems act as intermediaries that automatically gather obstacle information and present it to the crew through the display interface, eliminating the need for direct visual inspection by crew members and reducing their workload while improving information accuracy.
2Reliability
If proximity sensors and flight control systems are integrated to provide real-time obstacle information, then landing accuracy and safety are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional integrated system where the flight control system performs multiple functions: it processes data from various proximity sensors, calculates distances to obstacles, generates visual and aural warnings, and can automatically control vehicle movements. This universal system consolidates what would otherwise be separate subsystems, improving reliability while managing complexity through functional integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the proximity detection system, processing unit, and flight control system into a single integrated architecture. The sensors, processors, and actuators are combined into a unified system that automatically monitors obstacles and controls vehicle movements, improving reliability through tight integration while reducing the number of separate components that would otherwise increase complexity.
3Loss of information
If multiple proximity sensors are deployed around the airframe to detect obstacles in all directions, then obstacle detection coverage is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the obstacle detection function into multiple segmented sensor units positioned at different locations on the vehicle (front, rear, sides, and underneath). Each sensor segment covers a specific directional zone, and the system integrates data from all segments to provide comprehensive 360-degree coverage. This segmentation approach improves detection coverage while managing complexity by assigning specific functions to each sensor segment.
Data Source
AI summary
A vertical landing vehicle including an airframe forming a hull and having at least one wing coupled to the airframe, at least one proximity sensor coupled to the airframe, and a flight control system including a control processor and an operator interface, wherein the at least one proximity sensor is coupled to the control processor, wherein the control processor, based on signals from the at least one proximity sensor, is configured to generate, for presentation through the operator interface, situational awareness indications corresponding to portions of the hull sensed by the at least one proximity sensor and obstacles sensed by the at least one proximity sensor, and wherein the situational awareness indications comprise a terrain map overlay including positional relationships between the hull and the obstacles.