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System including an autopilot, with a simulator, for a fluid borne vehicle

  • US 5,053,969 A
  • Filed: 04/19/1989
  • Issued: 10/01/1991
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1988
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A control system for a fluid borne vehicle, described behaviorally by a set, comprising a vector, of state variables, said system including(a) vehicle controls to effect, with vehicle motion, changes to said state variables in response to control inputs,(b) measurement means to provide a set of observed state values representative of at least some state variables of the vehicle,(c) autopilot means operable(i) to simulate the behavioral response of the vehicle to values of control inputs to produce a set of values representative of estimated state variables,(ii) to observe at least the estimated state variables corresponding to the state variables observed by the measurement means, and(iii) to cause, by way of said control inputs, the vehicle to assume a steady state condition in relation to state variables observed at which motion-disturbing out-of-trim forces acting on the vehicle are compensated for, and(d) an evaluation facility responsive to relationships assumed in such a steady state condition between vehicle motion defined by the autopilot means and a set of observed estimation error values, between observed state variables and observed estimated state variables, that is attributable, in such steady state condition, to motion-disturbing out-of-trim forces to derive, from a set of instantaneously observed estimation error values, values of said motion-disturbing forces.

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