Safe vertical take-off and landing aircraft payload distribution and adjustment
Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can provide opportunities to incorporate aerial transportation into transportation networks for cities and metropolitan areas. However, VTOL aircraft can be sensitive to uneven weight distributions, e.g., the payload of an aircraft is primarily loaded in the front, back, left, or right. When the aircraft is loaded unevenly, the center of mass of the aircraft may shift substantially enough to negatively impact performance of the aircraft. Thus, in turn, there is an opportunity that the VTOL may be loaded unevenly if seating, luggage placement, and/or positions of internal components are not coordinated. This application describes systems and methods for dynamically assigning payloads and adjusting components of the VTOL aircraft.
1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
accessing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft transport request for a payload associated with an individual;
accessing a weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual;
computing a payload assignment of the payload associated with the individual to a particular VTOL aircraft of a plurality of VTOL aircraft based on the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual and a weight distribution criteria associated with the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing, while the individual is at a transfer hub and using one or more physical weight sensors, a likelihood that the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual does or does not violate the weight distribution criteria of the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing that the likelihood satisfies a threshold;
while the individual is at the transfer hub, transmitting data indicative of a flight of the particular VTOL aircraft to a computing device associated with the individual, wherein the flight is not communicated to the individual until after a determination that the likelihood satisfies the threshold; and
loading the particular VTOL aircraft with the payload assignment;
computing, using one or more sensors of the VTOL aircraft, a total payload and a payload distribution of the particular VTOL aircraft loaded with the payload assignment;
computing, based on the total payload, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight threshold;
computing, based on the payload distribution, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight distribution threshold; and
based on the VTOL aircraft satisfying the weight threshold and satisfying the weight distribution threshold, instructing take-off of the VTOL aircraft, the VTOL aircraft being configured to take-off vertically with the payload assignment.
2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing an updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual, wherein the computation that the likelihood satisfies the threshold is based on the updated weight estimate.
3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising automatically updating a designated location of the payload associated with the individual based on the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual and the weight distribution criteria of the particular VTOL aircraft.
4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein loading of the particular VTOL aircraft is based on the updated designated location of the payload.
5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising computing an assignment of the payload associated with the individual to a different seat within the particular VTOL aircraft based on the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual.
6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising computing a payload assignment of another payload associated with another individual to another VTOL aircraft within the plurality of VTOL aircraft based on the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual.
7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual is received from the one or more physical weight sensors located at the transfer hub.
8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual is received from the individual.
9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual is associated with a profile of the individual.
10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual comprises a weight estimate of a rider and a weight estimate of luggage to accompany the rider.
11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein computing the payload assignment of the payload associated with the individual to the particular VTOL aircraft of the plurality of VTOL aircraft comprises computing a particular seat assignment within the particular VTOL aircraft for the individual.
12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein computing the payload assignment of the payload associated with the individual to the particular VTOL aircraft of the plurality of VTOL aircraft comprises computing a particular location for placement of luggage associated with the individual within the particular VTOL aircraft.
13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the weight distribution criteria comprises the weight distribution threshold, where the threshold corresponds to a likelihood threshold that the weight distribution threshold will or will not be violated.
14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the weight distribution criteria comprises a maximum weight threshold, where the threshold corresponds to a likelihood threshold that the maximum weight threshold will or will not be violated.
15 . A computing system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform operations, comprising:
accessing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft transport request for a payload associated with an individual;
accessing a weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual;
computing a payload assignment of the payload associated with the individual to a particular VTOL aircraft of a plurality of VTOL aircraft based on the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual and a weight distribution criteria associated with the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing, while the individual is at a transfer hub and using one or more physical weight sensors, a likelihood that the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual does or does not violate the weight distribution criteria of the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing that the likelihood satisfies a threshold;
while the individual is at the transfer hub, transmitting data indicative of a flight of the particular VTOL aircraft to a computing device associated with the individual, wherein the flight is not communicated to the individual until after a determination that the likelihood satisfies the threshold;
loading the particular VTOL aircraft with the payload assignment;
computing, using one or more sensors of the VTOL aircraft, a total payload and a payload distribution of the particular VTOL aircraft loaded with the payload assignment;
computing, based on the total payload, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight threshold;
computing, based on the payload distribution, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight distribution threshold; and
based on the VTOL aircraft satisfying the weight threshold and satisfying the weight distribution threshold, instructing take-off of the VTOL aircraft, the VTOL aircraft being configured to take-off vertically with the payload assignment.
16 . The computing system of claim 15 , the operations further comprising accessing an updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual, wherein the computation that the likelihood satisfies the threshold is based on the updated weight estimate.
17 . The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual is received from the one or more physical weight sensors located at the transfer hub.
18 . The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the updated weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual is received from the individual.
19 . The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual comprises a weight estimate of a rider and a weight estimate of luggage to accompany the rider.
20 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium configured to store instructions for execution by at least one processor to perform operations, comprising:
accessing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft transport request for a payload associated with an individual;
accessing a weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual;
computing a payload assignment of the payload associated with the individual to a particular VTOL aircraft of a plurality of VTOL aircraft based on the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual and a weight distribution criteria associated with the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing, while the individual is at a transfer hub and using one or more physical weight sensors, a likelihood that the weight estimate of the payload associated with the individual does or does not violate the weight distribution criteria of the particular VTOL aircraft;
computing that the likelihood satisfies a threshold;
while the individual is at the transfer hub, transmitting data indicative of a flight of the particular VTOL aircraft to a computing device associated with the individual, wherein the flight is not communicated to the individual until after a determination that the likelihood satisfies the threshold; and
loading the particular VTOL aircraft with the payload assignment;
computing, using one or more sensors of the VTOL aircraft, a total payload and a payload distribution of the particular VTOL aircraft loaded with the payload assignment;
computing, based on the total payload, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight threshold;
computing, based on the payload distribution, that the VTOL aircraft satisfies a weight distribution threshold; and
based on the VTOL aircraft satisfying the weight threshold and satisfying the weight distribution threshold, instructing take-off of the VTOL aircraft, the VTOL aircraft being configured to take-off vertically with the payload assignment.
21 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein loading the particular VTOL aircraft with the payload assignment comprises transmitting instructions to load the particular VTOL aircraft with the payload associated with the individual.