FAULT DETECTION AND RECONFIGURATION OF AN AUTOMATED REFUELING BOOM
First Claim
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1. A system for detection of sensor faults with regard to the automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft, comprising:
- a first GPS receiver adapted to process signals from a GPS antenna attached to the tanker aircraft, andat least one processor adapted to calculate ranges from the GPS antenna to a constellation of GPS satellites transmitting the signals being processed by the GPS receiver, the processor being further adapted to order the GPS satellites into a plurality of subsets, wherein each subset includes all GPS satellites except one such that each subset uniquely corresponds to its excepted GPS satellite, the processor being further adapted to calculate ranges between the GPS antenna and each of the GPS satellites in each subset, and wherein the processor is adapted to analyze noise characteristics associated with the ranges to determine if an excluded satellite is faulty and to calculate a GPS location for the GPS antenna based upon the calculated ranges that do not depend upon the faulty GPS satellite.
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Abstract
A system for automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft is provided. The system includes sensors such as electro-optical sensor or GPS sensors that provide measurements used by the system to automatically control the refueling boom so as to mate with a receiver aircraft. The system is configured to monitor the health of the sensors and to reconfigure itself if any of the sensor are faulty.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for detection of sensor faults with regard to the automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft, comprising:
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a first GPS receiver adapted to process signals from a GPS antenna attached to the tanker aircraft, and at least one processor adapted to calculate ranges from the GPS antenna to a constellation of GPS satellites transmitting the signals being processed by the GPS receiver, the processor being further adapted to order the GPS satellites into a plurality of subsets, wherein each subset includes all GPS satellites except one such that each subset uniquely corresponds to its excepted GPS satellite, the processor being further adapted to calculate ranges between the GPS antenna and each of the GPS satellites in each subset, and wherein the processor is adapted to analyze noise characteristics associated with the ranges to determine if an excluded satellite is faulty and to calculate a GPS location for the GPS antenna based upon the calculated ranges that do not depend upon the faulty GPS satellite. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for detection of sensor faults with regard to the automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft, the tanker aircraft having a GPS receiver adapted to process signals from a GPS antenna attached to the tanker aircraft, the signals originating from a plurality of GPS satellites, the method comprising:
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ordering the GPS satellites into sets, each set comprising all of the plurality of GPS satellites except one such that each set corresponds uniquely to an excluded GPS satellite; for each set, calculating the ranges between the GPS antenna and the set'"'"'s GPS satellites; analyzing the ranges to determine whether one of the excluded GPS satellites is faulty; if an excluded GPS satellite is faulty, calculating a GPS position for the GPS antenna based upon the ranges from the set that excludes the faulty GPS satellite; and actuating the refueling boom so as to mate with a receiver aircraft responsive to the calculated GPS position. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for detection of sensor faults with regard to the automated control of a refueling boom coupled to a tanker aircraft, the tanker aircraft including an electro-optic sensor configured to provide optical measurements for a plurality of reference points, the method comprising;
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ordering the optical measurements into a plurality of sets, each set comprising all the optical measurements except one such that each set uniquely corresponds to an excluded optical measurement; analyzing a noise characteristic for each set to determine whether one of the excluded optical measurements is faulty; and if there is a faulty optical measurement;
actuating the refueling boom so as to mate with a receiver aircraft using the optical measurements but not the faulty optical measurement. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification