Automatically guided parafoil directed to land on a moving target

• US 8,483,891 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Government Of The United States Of America, As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy
• Original Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Inventors: Yakimenko, Oleg, Hewgley, Charles, Bourakov, Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US13/083,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 701/18, 701/16
• US Class Current: 701/18
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 1/08 the articles being load-carrying devices
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 17/00 Parachutes non canopied parachutes B64D19/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 17/025 for gliding chutes
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0684 on a moving platform, e.g. aircraft carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/105 specially adapted for unpowered flight, e.g. glider, parachuting, forced landing parachutes per se B64D17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

A method is described performing the following with a parafoil'"'"'s control unit composed of electronic circuitry while the control unit is being transported with a parafoil: calculating a desired landing location for a parafoil, the desired landing location corresponding to a moving target, the calculating including using a term representative of the moving target'"'"'s velocity; determining a flight path to the desired landing location; and, controlling the parafoil'"'"'s flight path so as to follow the flight path.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

delivering a parafoil into the sky, said parafoil comprising;

at least one control unit comprising a method for automatically guiding a parafoil and electronic circuitry for controlling one or more control motors based on said method for automatically guiding a parafoil;

at least one or more control motors for operating one or more parafoil trailing lines; and

one or more parafoil trailing lines for controlling a descent of the parafoil;

releasing said parafoil so that said parafoil falls into a flight path under the directional guidance of the control unit;

performing the following method for automatically guiding a parafoil with said parafoil'"'"'s control unit said method for automatically guiding a parafoil comprising;

wirelessly receiving at said parafoil a description of a moving target'"'"'s vehicle type;

calculating a desired landing location for said parafoil, said desired landing location corresponding to said moving target, said calculating including using a term representative of said moving target'"'"'s velocity;

determining a planned flight path to said desired landing location;

controlling said one or more control motors to operate said one or more parafoil trailing lines, said operation of said one or more parafoil trailing lines controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path; and

,

controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path so as to follow said planned flight path.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said moving target is a ship.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said moving target is moving with a wind.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further comprises adjusting said flight path in view of said moving target'"'"'s vehicle type.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising extracting information describing a position of a landing area on said moving target for said vehicle type from a data store of said electronic control unit.

6. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having stored thereon program code that when processed by a processing unit for a parafoil'"'"'s electronic control unit causes a method for automatically guiding a parafoil to be performed, said method for automatically guiding a parafoil comprising:

wirelessly receiving at said parafoil a description of a moving target'"'"'s vehicle type;

calculating a desired landing location for said parafoil, said desired landing location corresponding to said moving target, said calculating including using a term representative of said moving target'"'"'s velocity;

determining a planned flight path to said desired landing location;

controlling one or more control motors of said parafoil to operate one or more parafoil trailing lines of said parafoil, said operation of said one or more parafoil trailing lines controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path; and

,

controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path so as to follow said planned flight path.

7. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said moving target is a ship.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said moving target is moving with a wind.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said method further comprises adjusting said flight path in view of said moving target'"'"'s vehicle type.

10. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said method further comprises extracting information describing a position of a landing area on said moving target for said vehicle type from a data store of said electronic control unit.

11. An electronic control unit for a parafoil having an electronic processing unit to perform a method for automatically guiding a parafoil while said electronic control unit is being transported by said parafoil, said electronic control unit comprising:

electronic circuitry; and

a method for automatically guiding a parafoil, said method comprising;

wirelessly receiving at said parafoil a description of a moving target'"'"'s vehicle type;

calculating a desired landing location for said parafoil, said desired landing location corresponding to a said moving target, said calculating including using a term representative of said moving target'"'"'s velocity;

determining a planned flight path to said desired landing location;

controlling one or more control motors of said parafoil to operate one or more parafoil trailing lines of said parafoil, said operation of said one or more parafoil trailing lines controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path; and

,

controlling said parafoil'"'"'s flight path so as to follow said planned flight path.

12. The electronic control unit of claim 11 wherein said moving target is a ship.

13. The electronic control unit of claim 11 wherein said moving target is moving with a wind.

14. The electronic control unit of claim 11 wherein said method further comprises adjusting said flight path in view of said moving target'"'"'s vehicle type.

15. The electronic control unit of claim 11 wherein said method further comprises extracting information describing a position of a landing area on said moving target for said vehicle type from a data store of said electronic control unit.