FORMATION FLYING METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20120004844A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Sahasrabudhe, Vineet, Jang, Stella, White, Matthew A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,437,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0033 by having the operator tracking the vehicle either by direct line of sight or via one or more cameras located remotely from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/10 Simultaneous control of position or course in three dimensions G05D1/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/101 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0047 Navigation or guidance aids for a single aircraft details of equipment G08G5/0017
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/04 Anti-collision systems

Abstract

A method for directing formation flying of an aircraft includes sensing a relative position of a leader to a follower aircraft by one or more sensors disposed at the follower aircraft. The relative position is compared to a selected relative position, and a follower velocity of the follower aircraft necessary to move the follower aircraft to the selective relative position is determined via a flight control computer of the follower aircraft. The follower velocity is transformed into flight control inputs and the follower aircraft is moved to the selected relative position via the flight control inputs.

Claims

1. A method for directing formation flying of an aircraft comprising:

sensing a relative position of a leader to a follower aircraft by one or more sensors disposed at the follower aircraft;

comparing the relative position to a selected relative position;

determining a follower velocity of the follower aircraft necessary to move the follower aircraft to the selective relative position via a flight control computer of the follower aircraft;

transforming the follower velocity into flight control inputs ; and

moving the follower aircraft to the selected relative position via the flight control inputs.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more sensors include one or more of video sensors, radar sensors, infrared sensors, sonar sensors, lidar sensors or global positioning sensors.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing a global position of the leader via a global position sensor disposed at the leader; and

transmitting the global position of the leader to the follower aircraft.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining the relative position of the follower aircraft based on the global position of the leader transmitted to the follower aircraft.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting data collected from the one or more sensors to a sensor fusion computer to determine the relative position of the follower aircraft to the leader.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the relative position comprises determining a relative range, azimuth and elevation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one sensor of the one or more sensors is a video sensor.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

collecting data from the video sensor; and

converting images from the video sensor into the relative position.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising converting images from the video sensor into the relative position by utilizing a visual tracking algorithm.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein at least two sensors are video sensors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative position is determined via triangulation.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting movement of the follower aircraft relative to the leader to preserve safety of the follower aircraft.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising disengaging formation flying if necessary.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the disengagement is via one of a pilot input to a flight control, a pilot activation of a control button or switch, or independent action of the flight control computer.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that a path of the leader is unsafe for the follower aircraft to follow; and

disengaging formation flying via the flight control computer.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the leader is a lead aircraft.

17. A system for directing formation flying of aircraft comprising:

one or more sensors disposed at a follower aircraft, the one or more sensors configured to detect data regarding a position of the follower aircraft relative to a position of a leader;

a flight control computer disposed at the follower aircraft and in operable communication with the one or more sensors, the flight control computer configured to;

determine a relative position between the follower aircraft and the leader;

compare the relative position to a selected relative position;

determine a follower velocity of the follower aircraft necessary to move the follower aircraft to the selected relative position;

transform the follower velocity into flight control inputs; and

direct movement of the follower aircraft to the selected relative position via the flight control inputs.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more sensors include one or more of video sensors, radar sensors, infrared sensors, sonar sensors, lidar sensors or global positioning sensors.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a datalink disposed at the follower aircraft to receive global position data from the leader.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a sensor fusion computer configured to determine the relative position of the follower aircraft to the leader.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein determining the relative position comprises determining a relative range, azimuth and elevation.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one sensor of the one or more sensors is a video sensor.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the flight control computer is configured to convert images from the video sensor into the relative position.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein at least two sensors are video sensors.