Actuator monitoring system using inertial sensors

• US 10,112,727 B1
• Filed: 08/29/2017
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kitty Hawk Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kitty Hawk Corporation
• Inventors: Cutler, Mark Johnson
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Greene, Daniel L
• Application Number:
  US15/689,892
• Time in Patent Office: 427 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/16 actuated automatically, e.g. responsive to gust detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/166 Mechanical, construction or arrangement details of inertial navigation systems

Abstract

An actuator monitoring and response system is disclosed. Sensor data is received from an inertial measurement unit on a vehicle. An observed attitude and an observed rate of change in attitude of the vehicle is determined based on the sensor data, determine an expected attitude and an expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based on a model of a vehicle failure mode, identify a set of one or more malfunctioning actuators based on the observed attitude, the observed rate of change in attitude, the expected attitude, and the expected rate of change in attitude. The processor is further configured to perform a responsive action based on the set of one or more malfunctioning actuators.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an interface configured to receive sensor data from an inertial measurement unit on a vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a first rotor and a second rotor, both of which rotate about a vertical axis of rotation; and

a processor configured to;

determine an observed attitude and an observed rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based on the sensor data;

obtain a set of models of vehicle failure modes, wherein the set of models include;

(1) a first model associated with a failure of the first rotor and (2) a second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

determine a first expected attitude and a first expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the first model associated with a failure of the first rotor;

determine a second expected attitude and a second expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

identify a set of one or more malfunctioning rotors based on the observed attitude, the observed rate of change in attitude, the first expected attitude, the first expected rate of change in attitude, the second expected attitude, and the second expected rate of change in attitude; and

perform a responsive action based on the set of one or more malfunctioning rotors.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the responsive action comprises changing a control scheme used to determine actuator commands.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the responsive action comprises providing actuator commands that compensate for the set of one or more malfunctioning rotors.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of models includes a model associated with an operable vehicle mode.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more malfunctioning actuators are determined to be positioned in a specific region on the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of models comprise a subset of possible vehicle failure modes.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the subset of possible vehicle failure modes comprises last observed vehicle failure modes.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the subset of possible vehicle failure modes comprises vehicle failure modes determined to be most probable out of all possible vehicle failure modes.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein models in the set of models are sorted based on similarity to the observed attitude and the observed rate of change in attitude.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein similarity of a model in the set of models to the observed attitude and the observed rate of change in attitude is determined based on a difference between an expected attitude based on a model in the set of models and the observed attitude and a difference between an expected rate of change in attitude based on a model in the set of models and the observed rate of change in attitude.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein in the event all models in the set of models are below a threshold similarity to the actual attitude and the actual attitude rate, a new set of models are determined for a new set of vehicle failure modes.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein in the event multiple models in the set of models are equally most similar to the observed attitude and observed attitude rate, a group of actuators that are positioned close together on the vehicle is determined to comprise one or more malfunctioning actuators.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein in the event multiple models in the set of models are equally most similar to the observed attitude and observed attitude rate, test commands are sent to actuators corresponding to the multiple models.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein one or more of the actuators corresponding to the multiple models are determined to be malfunctioning based on responses of the actuators corresponding to the multiple models to the test commands.

15. The claim of system 14, wherein the test commands are sent in succession.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving sensor data from an inertial measurement unit on a vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a first rotor and a second rotor, both of which rotate about a vertical axis of rotation;

determining an observed attitude and an observed rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based on the sensor data;

obtaining a set of models of vehicle failure modes, wherein the set of models include;

(1) a first model associated with a failure of the first rotor and (2) a second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

determining a first expected attitude and a first expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the first model associated with a failure of the first rotor;

determining a second expected attitude and a second expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

identifying a set of one or more malfunctioning rotors based on the observed attitude, the observed rate of change in attitude, the first expected attitude, the first expected rate of change in attitude, the second expected attitude, and the second expected rate of change in attitude; and

performing a responsive action based on the set of one or more malfunctioning rotors.

18. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving sensor data from an inertial measurement unit on a vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a first rotor and a second rotor, both of which rotate about a vertical axis of rotation;

determining an observed attitude and an observed rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based on the sensor data;

obtaining a set of models of vehicle failure modes, wherein the set of models include;

(1) a first model associated with a failure of the first rotor and (2) a second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

determining a first expected attitude and a first expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the first model associated with a failure of the first rotor;

determining a second expected attitude and a second expected rate of change in attitude of the vehicle based at least in part on the second model associated with a failure of the second rotor;

identifying a set of one or more malfunctioning rotors based on the observed attitude, the observed rate of change in attitude, the first expected attitude, the first expected rate of change in attitude, the second expected attitude, and the second expected rate of change in attitude; and

performing a responsive action based on the set of one or more malfunctioning rotors.