Method and system for estimating the angular speed of a mobile

• US 8,543,281 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2008
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Helicopters
• Original Assignee: Eurocopter
• Inventors: Petillon, Jean-Paul, Salesse-Lavergne, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOUIE, WAE LENNY
• Application Number:
  US12/663,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,933 Days
• Field of Search: 701/34, 701/29, 701/29.2, 701/500, 701/501, 342/104, 342/105, 342/118, 342/357.3
• US Class Current: 701/29.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/00 Gyroscopes; Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses; Turn-sensitive devices without moving masses; Measuring angular rate using gyroscopic effects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/183 Compensation of inertial measurements, e.g. for temperature effects
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/034 for indicating angular accelerations G01P15/036 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/0888 for indicating angular acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions

Abstract

A method of determining an angular velocity of an aircraft includes measuring the angular velocity using at least one gyro delivering a measured angular velocity signal affected by stochastic noise; measuring the angular acceleration of the aircraft using at least one accelerometer delivering a signal representing the angular acceleration of the aircraft; and using a filtering complementary in a frequency domain to combine a sum of the measured angular velocity signal and the angular acceleration signal so as to obtain a hybrid estimated angular velocity signal with reduced stochastic noise.

Claims

1. A system for determining an angular velocity of an aircraft comprising:

at least one gyro configured to deliver measured angular velocity signals affected by stochastic noise;

at least one accelerometer configured to deliver angular acceleration signals of the aircraft; and

a hybridizing module coupled to the at least one gyro and to the at least one accelerometer configured to hybridize and to filter completely in the frequency domain, the hybridizing module including;

a subtractor configured to receive the measured angular velocity signal and a previously-estimated angular velocity;

a filter connected to the subtractor configured to receive as input a difference between the angular velocity sign and the hybrid estimated angular velocity signal produced by the subtractor and configured to deliver as output a bias correction;

a summing circuit connected to the filter and configured to receive as input the output of the filter and the angular acceleration signals of the aircraft; and

an integrator connected to the summing circuit and configured to receive as input a sum from the summing circuit and to deliver as output a hybrid estimated angular velocity having reduced stochastic noise.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to measure the angular velocity using at least one gyro configured to deliver a measured angular velocity signal affected by stochastic noise, measure the angular acceleration of the aircraft using at least one accelerometer configured to deliver a signal representing the angular acceleration of the aircraft;

and use a filtering complementary in a frequency domain to combine a sum of the measured angular velocity signal and the angular acceleration signal so as to obtain a hybrid estimated angular velocity signal with reduced stochastic noise, wherein the hybridizing module is configured to perform complementary filtering and includes a lowpass filter characteristic for the gyro signals and a highpass filter characteristic for the accelerometer signals.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one gyro is configured to produce a noise of power spectrum density (PSD) that is substantially uniform in a frequency band from about 0.1 Hz to about 10 Hz.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one gyro is configured to produce a noise of power density (PSD) that is substantially proportional to frequency in a frequency band from about 1 Hz to about 10 Hz.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer is configured to produce a noise of power spectrum (PSD) that is substantially uniform regardless of frequency in a frequency band from about 0.1 Hz to about 10 Hz.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer includes at least six linear accelerometers.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least six linear accelerometers are secured rigidly to one another in a configuration having central symmetry.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer includes at least six single-axis linear accelerometers disposed in a configuration, the at least six single-axis linear accelerometers each including a sensitive point and a sensitivity axis, wherein each sensitive point is disposed in a center of an edge of a regular tetrahedron and each the sensitivity axis is oriented along the edge.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer includes at least four two-axis linear accelerometers each disposed at a vertex of a tetrahedron.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer includes at least three linear accelerometers disposed in a trihedron configuration and at least three angular accelerometers disposed in a trihedron configuration.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one gyro includes a microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one accelerometer includes a microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

13. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the filter includes a proportional gain 1/τ

, a low integral gain 1/τ

i, where τ

<

<

τ

i, and a cutoff frequency of less than 1 Hz.

14. The system as recited in claim 1, includes a comparator configured to compare difference between the angular velocity signal and the hybrid estimated angular velocity signal with a threshold and a failure-confirmation logic circuit connected to the comparator.