FIXED-WING DRONE, IN PARTICULAR OF THE FLYING-WING TYPE, WITH ASSISTED MANUAL PILOTING AND AUTOMATIC PILOTING
First Claim
1. A fixed-wing drone, comprising:
- a propulsion system, control surfaces and an automatic pilot, wherein the automatic pilot is configured to;
calculate set points as a function of instructions, said instructions comprising internal piloting instructions generated by the automatic pilot and external instructions received by the drone, said internal instructions and external instructions comprising turn instructions, move up/move down instructions and speed change instructions, said set points including a roll angle set point (φ
), a pitch angle set point () and a speed set point (V) for the implementation of the internal and/or external instructions; and
control the propulsion system and the control surfaces as a function of the calculated set points,upon application of a turn instruction and/or a speed change instruction, calculate said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to perform a turn and/or a speed change while maintaining constant an altitude (z) of the drone during the turn and/or the speed change, andupon cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions generate said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to maintain constant the heading and the altitude the drone had at the time of said cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A drone that includes an automatic piloting system that receives internal and/or external piloting instructions, as well as data of instantaneous attitude (φ*, θ*), altitude (z*) and speed (V*) delivered by sensors. Set point calculation circuits calculate, as a function of a model of the aerodynamic behaviour of the drone in flight, roll (φ) and/or pitch (θ) set points and/or speed set points (V) and/or altitude set points (z) corresponding to the internal and/or external piloting instructions received. Correction and control circuits control the propulsion system and the drone control surface servomechanisms. A system further allows generating internally piloting instructions for autonomous flight modes such as automatic take-off or automatic landing.
19 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A fixed-wing drone, comprising:
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a propulsion system, control surfaces and an automatic pilot, wherein the automatic pilot is configured to; calculate set points as a function of instructions, said instructions comprising internal piloting instructions generated by the automatic pilot and external instructions received by the drone, said internal instructions and external instructions comprising turn instructions, move up/move down instructions and speed change instructions, said set points including a roll angle set point (φ
), a pitch angle set point () and a speed set point (V) for the implementation of the internal and/or external instructions; andcontrol the propulsion system and the control surfaces as a function of the calculated set points, upon application of a turn instruction and/or a speed change instruction, calculate said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to perform a turn and/or a speed change while maintaining constant an altitude (z) of the drone during the turn and/or the speed change, andupon cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions generate said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to maintain constant the heading and the altitude the drone had at the time of said cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of piloting a fixed-wing drone comprising a propulsion system, control surfaces and an automatic pilot, the method comprising the steps of:
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calculating set points as a function of piloting instructions comprising internal instructions, generated by the automatic pilot, and/or external instructions, received by the drone, said internal instructions and external instructions comprising turn instructions, move up/move down instructions and speed change instructions, said set points including a roll angle set point (φ
), a pitch angle set point () and a speed set point (V) for the implementation of the internal and/or external instructions;upon application of a turn instruction and/or a speed change instruction, calculating said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to perform a turn and/or a speed change while maintaining constant an altitude (z) of the drone during the turn and/or the speed change;controlling the propulsion system and the control surfaces as a function of the calculated set points; and upon cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions, generating said roll angle set point (φ
), said pitch angle set point () and said speed set point (V) so as to maintain constant the heading and the altitude the drone had at the time of said cessation of receipt of at least certain of said external piloting instructions. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification