Determining a configuration status of a component of a landing gear assembly of an aircraft
A method of determining configuration status of a component of an aircraft landing gear assembly. The component with a lidar system is scanned to generate a set of position data points. A subset of the position data points is determined, the subset having position data points corresponding to positions in a predetermined region of the landing gear assembly, the predetermined region including a part of the component. The representative position point of the subset of position data points is determined, and it is determining if the position is beyond a predetermined threshold position. If the point is beyond the predetermined threshold position, a signal indicating the component of the landing gear assembly has a first configuration status is output, and if the representative position point is not beyond the predetermined threshold position, a signal indicating the component of the landing gear assembly has a second configuration status is output.
1 . A method of determining a configuration status of a component of a landing gear assembly of an aircraft, the method comprising:
attaching a lidar system to the aircraft;
activating the lidar system to cause the lidar system to initiate scanning of the component of the landing gear assembly to generate a set of position data points;
selecting a subset of the position data points, wherein the subset of the position data points consists of position data points corresponding to positions in a predetermined region of the landing gear assembly, wherein the predetermined region includes a part of the component of the landing gear assembly;
determining a representative position point of the subset of position data points;
determining whether the position of the representative position point is beyond a predetermined threshold position;
when the representative position point is beyond the predetermined threshold position, outputting a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a first configuration status; and
when the representative position point is not beyond the predetermined threshold position, outputting a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a second configuration status;
wherein the landing gear assembly is a nose landing gear of the aircraft; and
wherein the lidar system is attached inside a landing gear bay for the nose landing gear.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the representative position point is a centroid point of the subset of the position data points.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold position is a position along an axis of the predetermined region of the landing gear assembly.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component of the landing gear assembly comprises one or more parts that are not included in the predetermined region.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component of the landing gear assembly is a landing gear door or a landing gear wheel assembly.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first configuration status is an open status indicating that the landing gear door is open; and
the second configuration status is a closed status indicating that the landing gear door is closed.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first configuration status is an extended status, indicating that the landing gear wheel assembly is extended; and
the second configuration status is a retracted status, indicating that the landing gear wheel assembly is retracted.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the part of the component of the landing gear assembly is a hinge, a movable strut, and/or an actuator.
9 . The method of claim 1 , comprising determining whether the position of the representative position point is beyond a second predetermined threshold position; and
when the representative position point is beyond the second predetermined threshold position, outputting a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a third configuration status;
when the representative position point is not beyond the second predetermined threshold position, outputting a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a fourth configuration status.
10 . An aircraft comprising:
a landing gear assembly comprising a component;
a lidar system attached to the aircraft and configured to scan the component of the landing gear assembly and to generate a set of position data points; and
a computer system configured to output a signal indicating a configuration status of the component of a landing gear assembly using the set of position data points in accordance with the method of claim 1 .
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lidar system is attached on a back interior wall of the landing gear bay for the nose landing gear.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the lidar system is attached at a height above a level of a door of the landing gear bay.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined region of the landing gear assembly is defined virtually by a bounding box that includes a wheel arrangement of the nose landing gear.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein:
selecting the subset of the position data points comprises discarding any position data points outside the bounding box;
determining the representative position point of the subset of position data points comprises determining a centroid point of the subset of position data points;
the centroid point is a mean average of all of position data points of the subset of position data points that are within the bounding box, such that the centroid point is representative of an overall position of the position data points within the bounding box.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein determining whether the position of the representative position point is beyond a predetermined threshold position comprises comparing the centroid point to the predetermined threshold position.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the centroid point changes as the wheel arrangement changes configuration; and
only the position of the centroid point along a single axis is used for determining whether the position of the representative position point is beyond a predetermined threshold position.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein activating the lidar system comprises receiving a signal at the lidar system to initiate scanning of the component of the landing gear assembly.
18 . An aircraft comprising:
a landing gear assembly comprising a component;
a lidar system attached to the aircraft and configured to, upon receipt of a control signal that activates the lidar system, scan the component of the landing gear assembly and to generate a set of position data points from the scanning; and
a computer system configured to:
send the control signal to the lidar system to initiate the scanning;
select a subset of the position data points, wherein the subset of the position data points consists of position data points corresponding to positions in a predetermined region of the landing gear assembly, wherein the predetermined region includes a part of the component of the landing gear assembly;
determine a representative position point of the subset of position data points;
determine whether the position of the representative position point is beyond a predetermined threshold position;
when the representative position point is beyond the predetermined threshold position, output a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a first configuration status; and
when the representative position point is not beyond the predetermined threshold position, output a signal indicating that the component of the landing gear assembly has a second configuration status.
19 . The aircraft according to claim 18 , wherein the lidar system is configured to scan the component of the landing gear assembly upon receipt of a signal that activates the lidar system.