Control of craft under high-G pilot stress
First Claim
1. The process of controlling a craft capable of undergoing high-G forces which can cause a human pilot to undergo an intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia and lose control of piloting said craft along a first flight controlled path comprising, providing a source of a first signal representative of a need to change said first flight controlled path, providing a source of a second signal representative of a second flight controlled path, responding to said first and second signals to cause said craft to execute said second flight controlled path in place of said flight controlled path, at least one of said first or second signals involving a generation of high-G forces which may cause the pilot to undergo such intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia, monitoring the level of adequacy of oxygen delivery by blood to the brain of said pilot to provide a third signal representative of the tolerable or intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia and responding to a tolerable cerebral hypoxia level of said third signal for enabling said pilot to regain control of piloting of said craft.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Monitoring a pilot'"'"'s oxygenation during flight using near infrared technology to detect pilot blackout, as for example during high G aircraft maneuvers. Initiating automatic programmed flight control or remote controller programmed flight control to avert loss of life, property or aircraft as a consequence of such detection.
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Citations
19 Claims
- 1. The process of controlling a craft capable of undergoing high-G forces which can cause a human pilot to undergo an intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia and lose control of piloting said craft along a first flight controlled path comprising, providing a source of a first signal representative of a need to change said first flight controlled path, providing a source of a second signal representative of a second flight controlled path, responding to said first and second signals to cause said craft to execute said second flight controlled path in place of said flight controlled path, at least one of said first or second signals involving a generation of high-G forces which may cause the pilot to undergo such intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia, monitoring the level of adequacy of oxygen delivery by blood to the brain of said pilot to provide a third signal representative of the tolerable or intolerable level of cerebral hypoxia and responding to a tolerable cerebral hypoxia level of said third signal for enabling said pilot to regain control of piloting of said craft.
- 6. An arrangement for controlling a craft capable of undergoing high-G forces which can cause a human pilot to experience a level of cerebral hypoxia sufficient to lose control of piloting said craft along a first flight path controlled by said pilot comprising, means for monitoring the level of adequency of oxygen delivery by blood to the brain of the pilot to provide a first signal representative thereof, means responsive to tolerable and intolerable levels of such adequacy of said first signal for enabling or disabling said pilot from piloting said craft comprising, a source of a second signal representative of a second flight controlled path, and means coupled to said source of second signal and responsive to an intolerable level of said first signal for disabling said pilot from piloting said craft and enabling said craft to execute said second flight controlled path in place of said first flight controlled path.
- 11. An arrangement for controlling an aircraft capable of undergoing high-G forces which can cause a pilot to undergo cerebral hypoxia and become disabled from controlling said aircraft comprising means for sensing the level of adequacy of oxygen delivery by blood to a pilots brain to provide blackout and non-blackout signals, a source of signals representing a programmed flight control path involving the generation of high-G forces which may cause pilot blackout, means for enabling said source to cause said aircraft to execute said programmed flight control path, and means for disabling said source to permit return of pilot control of said aircraft comprising means responsive to said non-blackout signals and not to said blackout signals.
- 14. An arrangement for controlling movement of a craft wherein a human operator may undergo cerebral hypoxia and become disabled from normally controlling said craft comprising means coupled to the brain of said operator for sensing the level of cerebral hypoxia to provide tolerable and intolerable cerebral hypoxia level signals, a source of signals representing a programmed path of movement, means for enabling said source to cause said craft to execute said programmed path of movement in response to an intolerable signal, and means for disabling said source to permit return of operator control of said craft comprising means responsive to a tolerable signal.
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19. The process of controlling a craft wherein a human pilot may undergo cerebral hypoxia and lose control of piloting said craft along a first flight controlled path comprising, providing a source of a first signal representative of a need to change said first flight controlled path, providing a source of a second signal representative of a second flight controlled path, responding to said first and second signals to cause said craft to execute said second flight controlled path in place of said first flight controlled path, monitoring the level of adequacy of oxygen delivery by blood to the brain of said pilot to provide a third signal representative thereof, said first signal comprising an undesired level of said third signal, and responding to a desired level of said third signal for enabling said pilot to regain control of piloting of said craft
Specification