Force Command Update Rate Detection

• US 20160016660A1
• Filed: 11/04/2014
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodrich Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Goodrich Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Ayichew, Efrem E., Abbott, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,522,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1703 for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/325 Systems specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/46 Brake regulators for preventing skidding or aircraft somersaulting

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to rate detection components, and more particularly, to a rate detection system that determines the update rate of commands. The update rate of the commands may be determined in response to the incidence of similarities and differences among samples of the commands.

Claims

1. A method of force command update rate detection comprising:

receiving, by an electrical brake actuation controller, a brake actuation instruction from a brake and steering control unit, wherein the electrical brake actuation controller comprises a force command update rate detector comprising a variation detector and a similarity detector;

determining, by the force command update rate detector, an update rate of the brake actuation instruction; and

transmitting, by the electrical brake actuation controller, an instruction comprising a force command having a force command update rate to an electric brake actuator in response to the determining.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the force command comprises a brake release command.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the electrical brake actuation controller processes the brake actuation instruction at an electrical brake actuation controller processing rate that is faster than the force command update rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the force command comprises a pilot braking command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the force command comprises an anti-skid braking command.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

collecting samples, by the variation detector, of the brake actuation instruction, wherein a number of samples is equal to a dissimilarity window;

determining, by the variation detector, variations between pairs of samples of the brake actuation instruction in response to the sampling;

counting, by the variation detector, a number of variations;

computing the update rate of the brake actuation instruction in response to the counting;

outputting an update rate determination in response to the computing.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising providing, by the electrical brake actuation controller, the force command to the electric brake actuator in response to the outputting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the force command update rate comprises a rate equal to the update rate determination.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

collecting samples, by the similarity detector, of the brake actuation instruction, wherein a number of samples is equal to a similarity window;

determining, by the similarity detector, equivalences between pairs of the samples of the brake actuation instruction in response to the sampling;

counting, by the similarity detector, a number of the equivalences;

computing the update rate of the brake actuation instruction in response to the counting; and

outputting an update rate determination in response to the computing.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing, by the electrical brake actuation controller, the brake actuation instruction to the electric brake actuator in response to the outputting.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the force command update rate has a rate equal to the update rate determination.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

collecting samples of the brake actuation instruction, wherein a number of the samples is equal to a dissimilarity window;

determining, by the variation detector, variations between pairs of the samples of the brake actuation instruction in response to the sampling;

determining, by the similarity detector, equivalences between the pairs of the samples of the brake actuation instruction in response to the sampling;

counting, by the variation detector, a number of the variations;

counting, by the similarity detector, a number of the equivalences;

computing the update rate of the brake actuation instruction in response to the number of the variations and the number of the equivalences; and

outputting an update rate determination in response to the computing.

13. A force command update rate detector comprising:

a variation detector in logical communication with a signal input; and

a similarity detector in logical communication with the signal input and connected in parallel with the variation detector,

wherein the variation detector provides an output command indication comprising a first indication in response to the signal input receiving a first signal having a first update rate, and

wherein the similarity detector provides the output command indication comprising a second indication in response to the signal input receiving a second signal having a second update rate.

14. The force command update rate detector according to claim 13, wherein the variation detector comprises:

a dissimilarity window width input including a dissimilarity window width,

a dissimilarity count input including a dissimilarity count,

a first counter, whereby the variation detector is reset in response to the dissimilarity window width elapsing;

a second counter, whereby the variation detector determines that a number of samples of a signal at the signal input comprising dissimilar values is equal to or greater than the dissimilarity count;

wherein the second counter provides the output command indication comprising the first indication in response to the determining.

15. The force command update rate detector according to claim 13, wherein the similarity detector comprises:

a similarity window width input including a similarity window width;

a similarity count input including a similarity count;

a first counter, whereby the similarity detector is reset in response to the similarity window width elapsing;

a second counter, whereby the similarity detector determines that a number of samples of a signal at the signal input comprising equal values is equal to or greater than the similarity count,

wherein the second counter provides the output command indication comprising the second indication in response to the determining.