IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,386,800
Granted Patent B1
US 11,386,800 · App. 17/361,787 · Granted Jul 12, 2022

System and method for flight control of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft

Inventors: Nicholas Moy (Burlington, VT); Collin Freiheit (Burlington, VT)
Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
G09B9/206G06N3/08G09B9/24
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,386,800
App. No.
17/361,787
Granted
Jul 12, 2022
Kind
B1
Abstract

A system for flight control of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft includes a flight simulator communicatively coupled to a VTOL aircraft, wherein the flight simulator is configured to generate a model for at least a flight component and a flight controller, wherein the flight controller is configured to receive the model for the at least a flight component, determine a command for the at least a flight component as a function of the model, and initiate the command for the at least a flight component.

Claims (40)

1. A system for flight control of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, wherein the system comprises:

a flight simulator communicatively coupled to a VTOL aircraft, wherein the flight simulator is configured to:

generate a model for at least a flight component; and

a flight controller onboard the VTOL aircraft, wherein the flight controller is configured to:

receive the model for the at least a flight component;

determine a command for the at least a flight component as a function of the model, wherein determining the command further comprises:

receiving, by the flight controller, command training data relating a plurality of commands to the model;

training, by the flight controller, as a function of the command training data, a command machine-learning model;

inputting, by the flight controller, the model into the trained command machine-learning model; and

outputting, by the flight controller, as a function of the model and the trained command machine-learning model, the command; and

initiate the command for the at least a flight component.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the model is configured to produce a simulation of at least a flight element of the VTOL aircraft.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the model is configured to include operational data of the at least a flight component for a plurality of simulated conditions.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein generating the model further comprises receiving the operational data as a function of a sensor and generating the model as a function of the operational datum.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein generating the model further comprises producing an updated model as a function of the operational datum.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the flight controller is configured to:

receive the updated model associated with the at least a flight component from the flight simulator; and

produce an updated command as a function of the updated model.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein generating the model further comprises calculating a variance of the sensor and generating the model as a function of the variance.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the model includes a physics model.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the command further comprises determining a desired torque for the at least a flight component.

10. A method for flight control of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the method comprising:

generating, as a function of a flight simulator communicatively coupled to a VTOL aircraft, a model for at least a flight component;

receiving, by a flight controller onboard the VTOL aircraft, the model for the at least a flight component;

determining, by the flight controller, a command for the at least a flight component as a function of the model, wherein determining the command further comprises:

receiving, by the flight controller, command training data relating a plurality of commands to the model;

training, by the flight controller, as a function of the command training data, a command machine-learning model;

inputting, by the flight controller, the model into the trained command machine-learning model; and

outputting, by the flight controller, as a function of the model and the trained command machine-learning model, the command; and

initiating, by the flight controller, the command for the at least a flight component.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the model is configured to produce a simulation of at least a flight element of the VTOL aircraft.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the model is configured to include operational data of the at least a flight component for a plurality of simulated conditions.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the model further comprises receiving the operational data as a function of a sensor and generating the model as a function of the operational datum.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein generating the model further comprises producing an updated model as a function of the operational datum.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving the updated model associated with the at least a flight component from the flight simulator; and

producing an updated command as a function of the updated model.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein generating the model further comprises calculating a variance of the sensor and generating the model as a function of the variance.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the model includes a physics model.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the command further comprises determining a desired torque for the at least a flight component.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 15, 2021
From: MOY, NICHOLAS; FREIHEIT, COLLIN
To: BETA AIR, LLC
Reel/Frame 058109/0688 →
Cited By (2)
US 12,456,381 US 12,464,199