STEEP APPROACH PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS AND OPTIMIZATION

• US 20140249704A1
• Filed: 12/04/2013
• Published: 09/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Embraer S.A.
• Original Assignee: Embraer S.A.
• Inventors: DE TARSO FERREIRA, Daniel Paulo, OLIVEIRA, Mauricio Faustino, CALDEIRA, Fabricio Reis
• Granted Patent: US 9,153,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/18
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0676 specially adapted for landing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/02 Automatic approach or landing aids, i.e. systems in which flight data of incoming planes are processed to provide landing data landing aids fitted in or to aircraft B64D45/04; visual or acoustic landing aids B64F1/18

Abstract

A flight control system can achieve a relatively steep descent (using drag devices such as flight spoilers) at relatively low speeds while retaining good airplane handling qualities from the pilot'"'"'s point of view. The system and method optimize the drag device'"'"'s positioning used to perform steep approach to improve performance.

Claims

1. An automatic control system receiving sensed inertial information representing at least aircraft trajectory, sensed air information representing at least air speed and a control input representing pilot inceptor position and/or movement, the system comprising at least one processor coupled to a non-transitory memory device storing instructions, the at least one processor executing the stored instructions for controlling at least one drag control surface to provide steep approach trajectory of an aircraft, the at least one processor providing:

defining a function of drag device deployment as a function of only one of the three factors among the aircraft mass, trajectory angle and pilot inceptor position and/or movement or as a function of any combination among these three factors which may be a combination between two or among three of them; and

providing a smooth transition between different curves of a family of curves as the aircraft mass, the trajectory angle and the pilot inceptor position and/or movement changes.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor activates a first predetermined curve based on the trajectory exceeding a predetermined threshold for at least a predetermined time period, and a second predetermined curve based on the trajectory not exceeding a predetermined threshold for at least a predetermined time period.

3. The system of claim 1 further including a mass estimator that estimates aircraft mass based on the inertial information and the air speed.

4. The system of claim 1 further including a drag device actuator.

5. The system of claim 1 further including at least one inertial sensor that senses the trajectory of the aircraft.

6. The system of claim 1 further including an air speed sensor.

7. An automatic control system for controlling at least one drag control surface to provide steep approach trajectory, the system comprising:

means for measuring air data;

means for measuring aircraft inertial information;

means for sensing pilot input;

means, coupled to the air data measuring means, the aircraft inertial information measuring means and the pilot input sensing means, for processing data and computing outputs to command the drag devices; and

means coupled to the processing means for actuating the at least one drag control surface.

8. An automatic control method for controlling at least one drag control surface provide steep approach trajectory, the method comprising:

measuring air data;

measuring aircraft inertial information;

sensing pilot input;

using at least one processor, processing data and computing outputs to command the drag devices; and

actuating the at least one drag control surface.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the processor activates a first predetermined curve based on the trajectory exceeding a predetermined threshold for at least a predetermined time period, and a second predetermined curve based on the trajectory not exceeding a predetermined threshold for at least a predetermined time period.

10. The method of claim 8 further including estimating circular mass based on the inertial information and air data, and using the estimated mass to command the drag devices.