System, method, and computer program product for predicting cruise orientation of an as-built airplane

• US 8,326,587 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2007
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Barnes, John G., Wilson, Douglas L., Purcell, Timothy W., Walls, Stephen A., Hawkinson, Dean A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US12/002,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,818 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 703/6, 703/7, 703/8, 244/56, 244/87, 244/119, 244/7, 244/3.1, 244/191, 244/31, 244/177, 701/220, 701/3, 701/12, 701/11, 701/4, 332/86, 731/47, 731/80, 324/207.17, 324/207, 324/17, 356/251, 700/114, 294/071, 348/211.7, 340/968, 340/426.13, 345/647, 250/227.11, 434/45, 706/17, 235/412
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/00 Designing, manufacturing, assembling, cleaning, maintaining or repairing aircraft, not otherwise provided for; Handling, transporting, testing or inspecting aircraft components, not otherwise provided for

Abstract

Illustrative computer-executable methods, systems, and computer software program products predict cruise orientation of an as-built airplane. In illustrative embodiments, nominal orientation of an as-built airplane is input. Deviation from the nominal orientation of the as-built airplane is automatically computed, and the computed deviation from the nominal orientation of the as-built airplane is applied to the nominal orientation of the as-built airplane.

Claims

1. A computer executable method for predicting cruise orientation of an as-built airplane, the method comprising:

specifying a reference frame with respect to a factory element;

receiving data specifying an orientation of a portion of the as-built airplane based on physical measurements of the as-built airplane;

automatically computing a deviation of the orientation of the portion of the as-built airplane from the reference frame to produce a computed deviation;

predicting the cruise orientation of the as-built airplane based on the computed deviation; and

automatically determining orientation of an orientation monument for the as-built airplane from the predicted cruise orientation of the as-built airplane.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically computing the deviation includes:

receiving angular variation of at least one aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane; and

automatically transforming the angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature into angular offsets from the reference frame.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically transforming the angular variation includes:

formatting the angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane into an input vector;

formatting a plurality of transformation factors that correlate a plurality of angular variations of aerodynamically significant features with angular offsets of components of cruise orientation into a transformation matrix; and

multiplying the transformation matrix by the input vector to obtain an output vector with angular offsets of components of the predicted cruise orientation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the input vector includes a column matrix having a plurality of rows corresponding to angular variation of each of a plurality of aerodynamically significant features of the as-built airplane.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the output vector includes a column matrix having a plurality of rows that correspond to the angular offsets of the components of the predicted cruise orientation.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein formatting the plurality of transformation factors includes:

formatting a first aerodynamic model into a first aerodynamic model matrix;

formatting a second aerodynamic model into a second aerodynamic model matrix; and

multiplying the first aerodynamic model matrix by the second aerodynamic model matrix to obtain the transformation matrix.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one aerodynamic model matrix chosen from the first aerodynamic model matrix and the second aerodynamic model matrix includes a linearization.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the factory element is a fixed monument of a factory facility.

9. A computer executable method for predicting cruise orientation of an as-built airplane, the method comprising:

specifying a reference frame with respect to a factory element;

receiving data specifying an orientation of the as-built airplane based on physical measurements of the as-built airplane;

formatting angular variation of at least one aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane into an input vector, wherein the angular variation is associated with the orientation of the as-built airplane and with the reference frame;

formatting a plurality of transformation factors that correlate a plurality of angular variations of aerodynamically significant features with angular offsets of components of the cruise orientation into a transformation matrix;

multiplying the transformation matrix by the input vector to obtain an output vector with the angular offsets of the components of the cruise orientation;

predicting the cruise orientation of the as-built airplane based on the output vector; and

automatically determining orientation of an orientation monument for the as-built airplane from the predicted cruise orientation of the as-built airplane.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the input vector includes a column matrix having a plurality of rows corresponding to angular variation of each of a plurality of aerodynamically significant features of the as-built airplane.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein formatting the plurality of transformation factors includes:

formatting a first aerodynamic model into a first aerodynamic model matrix;

formatting a second aerodynamic model into a second aerodynamic model matrix; and

multiplying the first aerodynamic model matrix by the second aerodynamic model matrix to obtain the transformation matrix.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one aerodynamic model matrix chosen from the first aerodynamic model matrix and the second aerodynamic model matrix includes a linearization.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computing system to predict cruise orientation of an as-built airplane, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a first set of instructions executable by the computing system to automatically compute a deviation, relative to a reference frame, of an orientation of at least one aerodynamically significant feature fixably joined to the as-built airplane, wherein the orientation is determined based on physical measurements of the as-built airplane and wherein the reference frame is specified with respect to a factory element;

a second set of instructions executable by the computing system to predict the cruise orientation of the as-built airplane based on the computed deviation; and

another set of instructions executable by the computing system to automatically determine orientation of an orientation monument for the as-built airplane from the predicted cruise orientation of the as-built airplane.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprises:

a third set of instructions configured to automatically transform angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature fixably joined to the as-built airplane into angular offsets from the reference frame.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprises:

a fourth set of instructions executable by the computing system to automatically format the angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature fixably joined to the as-built airplane into an input vector;

a fifth set of instructions executable by the computing system to automatically format a plurality of transformation factors that correlate a plurality of angular variations of aerodynamically significant features with angular offsets of components of cruise orientation into a transformation matrix; and

a sixth set of instructions executable by the computing system to automatically multiply the transformation matrix by the input vector to obtain an output vector with angular offsets of components of the predicted cruise orientation.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprises:

a seventh set of instructions executable by the computing system to format a first aerodynamic model into a first aerodynamic model matrix;

an eighth set of instructions executable by the computing system to format a second aerodynamic model into a second aerodynamic model matrix; and

a ninth set of instructions executable by the computing system to multiply the first aerodynamic model matrix by the second aerodynamic model matrix to obtain the transformation matrix.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein at least one aerodynamic model matrix chosen from the first aerodynamic model matrix and the second aerodynamic model matrix includes a linearization.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the output vector includes a column matrix having a plurality of rows that correspond to the angular offsets of the components of the predicted cruise orientation.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the factory element is a factory floor.

20. A computer-implemented method of predicting cruise orientation of an as-built airplane, the method comprising:

automatically computing a deviation, relative to a reference frame, of an orientation of at least one fixed aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane, wherein the orientation is determined based on physical measurements of the as-built airplane, wherein the reference frame is specified with respect to a factory element, and wherein the at least one fixed aerodynamically significant feature includes at least one of;

a wing surface;

a stabilizer surface; and

a non-rotatably mounted engine;

predicting the cruise orientation of the as-built airplane based on the computed deviation; and

automatically determining orientation of an orientation monument for the as-built airplane from the predicted cruise orientation of the as-built airplane.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein automatically computing the deviation from the orientation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane includes:

automatically transforming angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature into angular offsets from the reference frame.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein automatically transforming the angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature includes:

formatting the angular variation of the at least one aerodynamically significant feature of the as-built airplane into an input vector;

formatting a plurality of transformation factors that correlate a plurality of angular variations of aerodynamically significant features with angular offsets of components of cruise orientation into a transformation matrix; and

multiplying the transformation matrix by the input vector to obtain an output vector with angular offsets of components of the predicted cruise orientation.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the input vector includes a column matrix having a plurality of rows corresponding to angular variation of each of a plurality of aerodynamically significant features of the as-built airplane.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein formatting the plurality of transformation factors that correlate the plurality of angular variations of aerodynamically significant features includes:

formatting a first aerodynamic model into a first aerodynamic model matrix;

formatting a second aerodynamic model into a second aerodynamic model matrix; and

multiplying the first aerodynamic model matrix by the second aerodynamic model matrix to obtain the transformation matrix.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein at least one aerodynamic model matrix chosen from the first aerodynamic model matrix and the second aerodynamic model matrix includes a linearization.