Aircraft capable of hovering, aircraft maneuvering assist method, and interface

1. An aircraft capable of hovering, comprising:

a fuselage;

a rotor mounted onto the top of said fuselage and which may rotate about an axis;

a drive shaft projecting from said fuselage and for driving said rotor;

a plurality of sensors, wherein said plurality of sensors surround said drive shaft and each of the plurality of sensors having a plane sweep region and designed, when said aircraft is maneuvering, to acquire values of respective distances between first points on an obstacle within the plane sweep region, and a second point on said aircraft, said second point being defined by the intersection of said axis with the plane of said rotor, and said sweep regions being substantially parallel to the plane of said rotor, during the hovering of said aircraft;

a control unit designed to generate an acoustic and/or visual alarm signal when at least one of said first points lies within a safety region containing said second point on said aircraft, and said control unit is designed to determine a recommended backoff direction from said obstacle on the basis of said acquired values; and

an autopilot system for automatically controlling the aircraft, said control unit being designed to control said autopilot system, on the basis of said acquired values, to pull said aircraft back from said obstacle when at least one of said first points lies within said safety region wherein said autopilot system is controllable by said control unit to move said aircraft away from said obstacle in a direction parallel to said recommended backoff direction.

2. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the size of said safety region is selectively user-adjustable.

3. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , comprising filter means selectively user-activated and in turn comprising:

a comparing stage for comparing said values acquired by at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors; and

a generating stage for processing said values acquired by at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors, and generating filtered values of the acquired values.

4. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , comprising an autopilot system for automatically controlling the aircraft; said control unit being designed to control said autopilot system, on the basis of said acquired values, to pull said aircraft back from said obstacle when at least one of said first points lies within said safety region.

5. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , comprising detecting means independent of said plurality of sensors and designed to determine a reference law of motion of said aircraft independently of a position of said obstacle;

said control unit being designed to determine an actual law of motion of said aircraft on the basis of said acquired values;

and said control unit also being designed to generate, in use, a malfunction signal, indicating malfunction of at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors, when a significant value of a difference between said reference law of motion and said actual law of motion exceeds a given threshold value.

6. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , comprising display means; wherein said control unit is designed to command display on said display means of:

a first indication of said recommended backoff direction;

a second indication of the position of said second point;

a third indication of the overall size of said aircraft; and

a fourth indication of an outline of said obstacle defined as an intersection of said plane sweep region and an outer surface of said obstacle.

7. The aircraft as claimed in claim 1 , comprising:

a first transducer for a first acoustic signal; and

a second transducer, for a second acoustic signal, separate from said first transducer;

said control unit being designed:

not to command transmission of any acoustic signal over said first transducer and second transducer when a lowest value of said distances measured by said at least one sensor is above a first user-selectable threshold value;

to command transmission of intermittent acoustic signal over said first transducer and second transducer when said lowest value is below said first user-selectable threshold value and above a second user-selectable threshold value; and

to command transmission of steady signals over said first transducer and second transducer when said lowest value is below said second user-selectable threshold value.

8. The aircraft as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said control unit is designed to determine a recommended backoff direction from said obstacle on the basis of said acquired values and wherein said control unit is designed to command transmission, over said first transducer and second transducer, of an acoustic signal indicating said recommended backoff direction.

9. A method of assisting maneuvering of an aircraft capable of hovering, said maneuvering being carried out during a hovering of said aircraft, said aircraft comprising:

a fuselage;

a rotor mounted onto the top of said fuselage and which may rotate about an axis;

a drive shaft projecting from said fuselage and for driving said rotor;

the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring, when said aircraft is maneuvering, first values of respective first distances between first points on an obstacle within a sweep region of a first sensor of a plurality of sensors, and a second point on said aircraft, wherein said second point being defined by the intersection of said axis with the plane of said rotor and said sweep region being substantially parallel to the plane of said rotor during the hovering of said aircraft;

defining a safety region containing said second point on said aircraft;

generating an acoustic or visual alarm signal when at least one of said first points lies within the safety region containing said second point on said aircraft;

locating said plurality of sensors in a position in which they surround said drive shaft;

determining a first actual law of motion of said aircraft on the basis of said first values;

determining a reference law of motion of said aircraft-independently of said first values;

evaluating a significant value of the difference between said reference law of motion and said first actual law of motion;

generating a malfunction signal indicating malfunction of at least one of the plurality of sensors, when said significant value exceeds a given threshold value;

determining, when said aircraft is maneuvering, at least second values of respective second distances between second points on said obstacle within a second plane sweep region of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors;

determining a second actual law of motion of said aircraft on the basis of said second values;

determining a correlation between said first and second actual law of motion and said reference law of motion; and

correcting said first and/or second values on the basis of said correlation.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , comprising the step of automatically controlling the movement of said aircraft on the basis of said first values, to pull said aircraft away from said obstacle when at least one of said first points lies within said safety region.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , comprising the steps of:

determining a recommended backoff direction of said aircraft from said obstacle on the basis of said first values; and

automatically controlling the movement of said aircraft away from said obstacle in a direction parallel to said recommended backoff direction.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:

not commanding transmission of any acoustic signal over a first transducer and a second transducer when a lowest value of said distances measured by the first sensor is above a first user-selectable threshold value;

commanding transmission of an intermittent acoustic signal over said first transducer and said second transducer when said lowest value is below said first user-selectable threshold value and above a second user-selectable threshold value; and

commanding transmission of steady signals over said first transducer and said second transducer when said lowest value is below said second user-selectable threshold value.

13. A software product on a non-transitory computer readable medium and designed, when executed, to implement the steps of a method as claimed in claim 9 .