Prioritizing use of flight attitude controls of aircraft
Systems and methods of prioritizing the use of flight attitude controls of aircraft operable to transition between thrust-borne lift in a VTOL orientation and wing-borne lift in a biplane orientation. A method includes determining an optimal flight attitude state for the aircraft during flight, the aircraft including first and second wings with first and second pylons coupled therebetween forming an airframe with a two-dimensional distributed thrust array and a plurality of aerosurfaces coupled to the airframe; monitoring the current flight attitude state of the aircraft; identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state; ordering the flight attitude controls of the aircraft based upon the flight attitude control authority of each in the current flight attitude state; and implementing the highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state toward the optimal flight attitude state.
1. A method of prioritizing use of flight attitude controls of an aircraft operable to transition between thrust-borne lift in a VTOL orientation and wing-borne lift in a biplane orientation, the method comprising:
determining an optimal flight attitude state for the aircraft during flight, the aircraft including first and second wings with first and second pylons coupled therebetween forming an airframe, each pylon including a payload station, a payload non-rotatably coupled to the payload stations of the first and second pylons, a plurality of propulsion assemblies coupled to the airframe forming a two-dimensional distributed thrust array and a plurality of aerosurfaces coupled to the airframe, the first wing positioned forward of the payload and the second wing positioned aft of the payload with each of the propulsion assemblies rotating in the same horizontal plane, in the VTOL orientation, and the first wing positioned below the payload and the second wing positioned above the payload with each of the propulsion assemblies rotating in the same vertical plane, in the biplane orientation;
monitoring a current flight attitude state of the aircraft including determining whether the aircraft is in the VTOL orientation or the biplane orientation;
identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state;
ordering the flight attitude controls of the aircraft based upon a flight attitude control authority of each of the flight attitude controls in the current flight attitude state; and
implementing a highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state toward the optimal flight attitude state.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state further comprises identifying deviations between a current pitch state and an optimal pitch state of the aircraft.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state further comprises identifying deviations between a current roll state and an optimal roll state of the aircraft.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state further comprises identifying deviations between a current yaw state and an optimal yaw state of the aircraft.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein identifying deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state further comprises identifying deviations between current pitch, roll and yaw states and optimal pitch, roll and yaw states of the aircraft.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein monitoring the current flight attitude state of the aircraft further comprises identifying the occurrence of a flight anomaly.
7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein ordering the flight attitude controls of the aircraft further comprises determining the flight attitude control authority provided by thrust vectoring, changing rotor speed, changing aerosurface position and combination thereof in the current flight attitude state.
8. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising sensing the aircraft response to implementing the highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state toward the optimal flight attitude state;
determining whether the aircraft response was consistent with an expected aircraft response; and
implementing a second highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state to the optimal flight attitude state if the aircraft response to the highest order flight attitude control was not consistent with the expected aircraft response.
9. A system for prioritizing use of flight attitude controls of an aircraft operable to transition between thrust-borne lift in a VTOL orientation and wing-borne lift in a biplane orientation, the system comprising:
a flight control computing system having logic stored within a non-transitory computer readable medium, the logic executable by a processor, wherein the flight control computing system is configured to:
determine an optimal flight attitude state for the aircraft during flight, the aircraft including first and second wings with first and second pylons coupled therebetween forming an airframe, each pylon including a payload station, a payload non-rotatably coupled to the payload stations of the first and second pylons, a plurality of propulsion assemblies coupled to the airframe forming a two-dimensional distributed thrust array and a plurality of aerosurfaces coupled to the airframe, the first wing positioned forward of the payload and the second wing positioned aft of the payload with each of the propulsion assemblies rotating in the same horizontal plane, in the VTOL orientation, and the first wing positioned below the payload and the second wing positioned above the payload with each of the propulsion assemblies rotating in the same vertical plane, in the biplane orientation;
monitor a current flight attitude state of the aircraft including determining whether the aircraft is in the VTOL orientation or the biplane orientation;
identify deviations between the current flight attitude state and the optimal flight attitude state;
order the flight attitude controls of the aircraft based upon a flight attitude control authority of each of the flight attitude controls in the current flight attitude state; and
implement a highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state toward the optimal flight attitude state.
10. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to identify deviations between a current pitch state and an optimal pitch state of the aircraft.
11. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to identify deviations between a current roll state and an optimal roll state of the aircraft.
12. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to identify deviations between a current yaw state and an optimal yaw state of the aircraft.
13. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to identify deviations between current pitch, roll and yaw states and optimal pitch, roll and yaw states of the aircraft.
14. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to identify the occurrence of a flight anomaly.
15. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to determine the flight attitude control authority provided by thrust vectoring, changing rotor speed, changing aerosurface position and combination thereof in the current flight attitude state.
16. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the flight control computing system is configured to sense the aircraft response to the implementation of the highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state toward the optimal flight attitude state;
determine whether the aircraft response was consistent with an expected aircraft response; and
implement a second highest order flight attitude control to bias the aircraft from the current flight attitude state to the optimal flight attitude state if the aircraft response to the highest order flight attitude control was not consistent with the expected aircraft response.