With Indication Or Control Of Landing Patents (Class 701/16)
  • Patent number: 12043373
    Abstract: A landing gear for an aircraft includes a landing strut having proximal and distal ends with the proximal end couplable to the fuselage of the aircraft. The landing strut includes a gas chamber, a liquid chamber, a cylinder and a piston that is movable relative to the cylinder between extended and retracted positions. A wheel is coupled to the distal end of the landing strut. A force sensor is disposed between an extend stop surface of the piston and the chamber. Pressurized gas in the gas chamber biases the piston to the extended position such that the force sensor experiences a preload force. The force sensor is configured to detect a reduction in the preload force during a landing maneuver responsive to contact between the wheel and a landing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: Textron Innovations Inc.
    Inventors: Philip Reese Boyer, Jerry Allen Pongratz, Mason James Harvey
  • Patent number: 12037107
    Abstract: Method for braking at least one wheel of an aircraft, the wheel being provided with a brake having at least one braking actuator, comprising the steps of: generating a braking command (Com) on the basis of a braking setpoint (Cf); estimating a wheel speed; applying a dynamic correction to the braking command, the dynamic correction being a function of the braking command and of the wheel speed (V(t)), the dynamic correction comprising the step of producing a corrected braking command (Ccorr) which is greater than the braking command when the wheel speed is greater than or equal to a predetermined speed threshold, and then the step of reducing the correct braking command when the wheel speed becomes less than the predetermined speed threshold, with the result that the corrected braking command becomes less than the braking command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: SAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS
    Inventor: François Bonigen
  • Patent number: 12026440
    Abstract: A method for use of airport runway capacity includes receiving, at an air traffic control system at an airport, airport data related to movement areas of the airport, time data related to a time period, aircraft data related to a plurality of aircraft expected to operate into and out of the airport during the time period, and environmental data related to environmental conditions predicted for the airport during the time period. The method further includes computing a probability distribution for inter-aircraft spacing by applying the airport data, the time data, the aircraft data, and the environmental data to a trained Bayesian network, producing the probability distribution for the inter-aircraft spacing as an output observation of the trained Bayesian network, and, using the probability distribution and a confidence value, identifying an inter-aircraft spacing value for the plurality of aircraft expected to operate into and out of the airport during the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2024
    Assignee: Architecture Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Sweet, Sebastian Timar, Matthew Stillerman
  • Patent number: 12020582
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to house a vehicle, including a first container leg disposed on a first corner of a first container, a second container leg disposed on a second corner of the first container, a third container leg disposed on a third corner of the first container, a fourth container leg disposed on a fourth corner of the first container, at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth container legs each having an upper portion with a ramped receiving slot and a lower portion with a first ramped foot, and wherein the ramped receiving slot is to receive a protrusion associated with a second ramped foot of a second container different from the first container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Mark E. Barker, Aaron A. Wells, Bradley J. Bauer, Troy K. Maddox
  • Patent number: 12006883
    Abstract: The method can include, while the airplane is on the ground: entering a disking mode including positioning the blades at a disking pitch including rotating each blade around the length, the disking pitch oriented parallel to the plane of rotation; maintaining the blades at the disking pitch; and exiting the disking mode when a disking mode exit condition is met, including rotating each blade around the length, away from the disking pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Nicolas Des Roches-Dionne, Thomas Trevor Ricci, Charles Bolon-Bruhn, Jeremie Hebert
  • Patent number: 11999477
    Abstract: Disclosed is a drone station which allows the center of resonance of a drone to be always accurately aligned regardless of the initial landing position of the drone. The disclosed drone station includes a landing guidance instrument and a wireless charging instrument which is formed on the landing guidance instrument and wirelessly transmits the power to a drone positioned thereon, the landing guidance instrument having an inclined surface which moves the landed drone onto the top of the wireless charging instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: AMOSENSE CO., LTD
    Inventor: Gyu Weon Shin
  • Patent number: 12001225
    Abstract: There is provided a drone system in which a drone and a movable body operate in coordination with each other, the movable body being capable of moving with the drone aboard and allowing the drone to make a takeoff and a landing, the drone system includes a demarcating member that demarcates an operation area and detects an intruder into the operation area, the operation area being an area where at least one of the drone and the movable body performs an operation, the movable body includes a movement control section that stops movement of the movable body based on the detection of the intruder by the demarcating member, and the drone includes a landing position determining section that determines a landing position based on a stop position of the movable body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: NILEWORKS INC.
    Inventors: Chihiro Wake, Hiroshi Yanagishita
  • Patent number: 12001206
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for autonomously enabling remote operation of a vehicle such as an aircraft in response to detecting an event that may impact manual operation of the vehicle. One method autonomously detects an event with respect to manual operation of the vehicle based at least in part on output from one or more systems onboard the vehicle, identifies a hands-free functionality of a vehicle system to be activated based at least in part on a characteristic of the event, and autonomously initiates activation of the hands-free functionality of the vehicle system. A command for operating the vehicle is received from an external system via an onboard communications system and provided to the vehicle system for further implementation or execution using the hands-free functionality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Narayanan Srinivasan, Kiran Gopala Krishna, Gobinathan Baladhandapani, Hariharan Saptharishi
  • Patent number: 11995430
    Abstract: A system, platform, computer program product, and/or method for managing UAV resources is disclosed that includes: receiving UAV specifications to provision one or more UAVs; converting the UAV specifications to UAV specification metadata; transforming the UAV specification metadata to UAV configuration metadata to configure UAV software for the one or more UAVs; and configuring, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV software for the one or more UAVs. The system, platform, program product, and method can further include assembling, using the UAV configuration metadata, the UAV hardware of the one or more UAVs; deploying the one or more UAVs from a base location to a new location; transferring control over operation of the one or more UAVs to a third-party operator; creating and configuring a network connection to the one or more UAVs; and/or remotely logging into an operating system of the one or more UAVs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chuan Ran, Oluwanifemi Oluyemi, Vamsee Movva, A. Jaylani Sharif
  • Patent number: 11994407
    Abstract: A method of supporting robot(s) landing within a ground region is provided. The method includes accessing a map in which the ground region is tessellated into cells covering respective areas of the ground region. Each cell is classified as feasible to indicate a respective area is feasible for landing, or infeasible to indicate the respective area is infeasible for landing. The map is searched for clusters of adjoining cells that are classified as feasible, covering clusters of adjoining areas that define sub-regions within the ground region that are feasible for landing. The sub-regions are ranked according to a cost metric, and one of the sub-regions is selected according to the ranking. A geographic position of the selected sub-region is then output for use in at least one of guidance, navigation or control of the robot(s) to land at the selected sub-region within the ground region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Nathan Otenti, Joseph Chung, Jeffery Saunders
  • Patent number: 11989038
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are embodiments for providing contingency automation to emergency response. One embodiment of a method includes determining a route for a vehicle to a primary destination, and determining a first upcoming area along the route that has been previously identified as an emergency response zone, where the emergency response zone may be used as a secondary destination in a contingency route for the vehicle in an emergency. In some embodiments, the method may include reserving airspace for the contingency route, determining that the emergency response zone is no longer useful, based on an updated position of the vehicle, and canceling the contingency route from reservation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC
    Inventors: Szabolcs A. Borgyos, Adam J. Diffenderfer
  • Patent number: 11983016
    Abstract: A computerized method and system provide for vehicle routing by providing a route of travel for a vehicle to a destination point. The traffic is continuously monitored, and should the traffic become congested and/or unbalanced, at, proximate to, or beyond (downstream) a junction along the route of travel, the route of travel for the vehicle is modified by at least one of: 1) changing at least a portion of the route of travel of the vehicle; or, 2) replacing the route of travel of the vehicle with a new route of travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Inventor: Shlomo Vardi
  • Patent number: 11948344
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of inland vessel identification and ranging technology, and discloses a method, system, medium, equipment and terminal for identifying and ranging inland vessels. In the stage of vessel identification, based on the classical YOLO-V4 network model, the MobileNetV1 network is used to replace the feature extraction network CSPDarknet53 of the YOLO-V4 model; In the stage of vessel ranging, a binocular stereo vision ranging model is established, and the FSRCNN is used for super-resolution reconstruction of the original image pairs to enhance the vessel feature information; the ORB algorithm is used to achieve feature detection and matching at the sub-pixel level to obtain the parallax value between image pairs, and the depth information of the vessel target is obtained by triangulation principle and coordinate conversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Wuhan University of Technology
    Inventors: Yuanzhou Zheng, Long Qian, Jingxin Cao, Xinyu Liu, Xuemeng Lv, Lei Li, Shiquan Qin
  • Patent number: 11928977
    Abstract: A system for assisting in the landing of an aircraft including a processing unit configured to: during a first phase of a landing runway approach procedure, when the aircraft flies above a predetermined height with respect to a landing runway threshold, determine a bias of position and speed information from an inertia unit of the aircraft, as a function of the merged position and speed information determined as a function of information from a receiver of ILS guidance signals and of information from a signal receiver of a satellite navigation system, then, during a second phase of the approach procedure, when the aircraft flies below the predetermined height, determine so-called adjusted aircraft position and speed information by applying, to information from the inertial unit, a correction corresponding to the bias determined during the first phase of the approach procedure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventor: Nicolas Marconnet
  • Patent number: 11922819
    Abstract: A system for autonomously landing a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, comprising: a first sensor; a second sensor; and a processing resource configured to: (a) obtain, from, the first sensor, first readings; (b) generate, at a first rate, based on at least part of the first readings, a 3D model of at least, part of a scene visible by the first sensor; (c) obtain, from the second sensor, a plurality of second readings, enabling identifying changes within the at least part of the scene; (d) analyze at least part of the second readings, at a second rate, to obtain changes information indicative of the changes; (e) identify, using the 3D model and the changes information, potential landing areas for the aircraft; (f) generate commands to maneuver the aircraft towards a selected landing area of the potential landing areas; and (g) repeat steps (a) to (f) until landing the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: WONDER ROBOTICS LTD
    Inventors: Amnon Demri, Idan Shimon
  • Patent number: 11924278
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for securely monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly using elements of a wireless node network of sensor-based ID nodes disposed within the container and a command node associated with the container. The method has the command node identifying which of the ID nodes are confirmed as trusted sensors based upon a security credential specific to each of the ID nodes; monitoring only the confirmed ID nodes for sensor data broadcast those ID nodes; detecting the anomaly based upon the sensor data from at least one of the confirmed ID nodes; automatically generating an alert notification related to the detected environmental anomaly for the shipping container; and transmitting the alert notification to the external transceiver to initiate a mediation response related to the detected environmental anomaly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: FedEx Corporate Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Ole-Petter Skaaksrud
  • Patent number: 11899471
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to guide an unmanned aerial vehicle for recovery thereof are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus to recover an aircraft or a payload thereof includes a tether line, and markers supported by the tether line at different positions of the tether line, the markers to be detected by the aircraft, the aircraft to be guided to engage the tether line by determining positions of the markers and calculating a position of at least a portion of the tether line based on the determined position of the markers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Insitu, Inc. (a subsidiary of The Boeing Company)
    Inventor: Matthew J. Bartow
  • Patent number: 11897630
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for drone landing ground station. A method includes determining that a drone is landing on a ground station, based on determining that the drone is landing on the ground station, determining a magnetic field to generate at a first magnetic component at a first position in the ground station and an opposing magnetic polar at a second magnetic component at a second position in the ground station, and generating the magnetic field at the first magnetic component and the opposing magnetic field at the second magnetic component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Alarm.com Incorporated
    Inventors: Babak Rezvani, Donald Gerard Madden, Glenn Tournier, Ahmad Seyfi
  • Patent number: 11887491
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes: receiving, by a computing device, input data for identifying one or more landing site candidates for an aerial vehicle. The input data includes a set of criteria, terrain information, and obstacle information. The method further includes identifying, by the computing device, the one or more landing site candidates based on the input data and the criteria; providing, by the computing device, information regarding the identified one or more landing site candidates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael J. Browne, Andreas Godehart, Miriam Cornel
  • Patent number: 11884417
    Abstract: A system and method for emergency manual flight direction to a non-pilot enables the non-pilot an ability to safely land an aircraft after an event causing a single pilot of the aircraft to become unable to perform pilot tasks. The emergency flight director (EFD) receives inputs from a plurality of sources and displays information, maneuver, configuration and communication commands to the non-pilot on a flight deck display. Inputs to the system include aircraft state data as well as airport and current weather information associated with each available airport. The EFD determines an appropriate emergency landing runway and presents simplified commands coupled with animated aircraft specific graphics to the non-pilot to manually fly the aircraft to a safe landing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel B. Goldman
  • Patent number: 11881114
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for communicating information to an electronic flight bag device (EFB) comprises receiving one or more notification to airmen messages (NOTAMs) that specify conditions associated with one or more runways or taxiways of an airport. The computing system selects from among the received NOTAMs one or more NOTAMs that specify particular conditions under which corresponding runways or taxiways are or will be closed to aircraft traffic. For each selected NOTAM, the computing system generates overlay data that specifies a graphical representation indicative of the particular conditions under which the corresponding runway or taxiway is or will be closed. The computing system communicates the overlay data associated with the selected NOTAMs to the EFB. The graphical representations specified by the overlay data are configured to be overlayed on a map that depicts runways and taxiways and that is configured to be presented by the EFB.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Daniel Artic
  • Patent number: 11875692
    Abstract: Methods and systems for providing landing area information on an active avionic display on a display device in a cockpit of an aircraft. The system includes an avionic display module configured to render an avionic display on a display device; and a landing area guidance module configured to: construct a graphical insert that is smaller than the avionic display, the graphical insert depicting the landing area environment as a two-dimensional area that includes a landing location rendered therein in a first visualization scheme; overlay the graphical insert on a small portion of the avionic display; indicate a target exit on the landing location; determine whether a runway overrun awareness alerting system (ROAAS) alert has been received; determine whether a surface indication alerts (SurfIA) alert has been received; responsive to the ROAAS alert and the SurfIA alert, alter the rendering within the graphical insert.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Gang He, Thea Feyereisen, Zhihao Qin
  • Patent number: 11872956
    Abstract: A monitoring system for a working machine includes a boarding detector to detect boarding and alighting of an operator, the boarding detector being provided in the working machine, a position detector to detect a position based on a signal sent from a positioning satellite when the boarding detector detects the alighting of the operator, a transmitter to transmit, to a management machine, positional information representing the position detected by the position detector, and a controller to move the management machine based on the positional information when the boarding detector detects the alighting, the controller being provided in the management machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shuya Kaechi
  • Patent number: 11869388
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer products according to the principles of the present inventions may involve a training system for a pilot of an aircraft. The training system may include an aircraft sensor system affixed to the aircraft adapted to provide a location of the aircraft, including an altitude of the aircraft, speed of the aircraft, and directional attitude of the aircraft. It may further include a helmet position sensor system adapted to determine a location of a helmet within a cockpit of the aircraft and a viewing direction of a pilot wearing the helmet. The helmet may include a see-through computer display through which the pilot sees an environment outside of the aircraft with computer content overlaying the environment to create an augmented reality view of the environment for the pilot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: RED SIX AEROSPACE INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Augustine Robinson, Nikola Vladimir Bicanic, Glenn Thomas Snyder
  • Patent number: 11869374
    Abstract: A system includes a reception unit to receive current flight data of the aircraft and current meteorological data, a data processing unit to perform an iterative computation to determine, as a function at least of a set of predetermined rules, of a set of constraints and of current values including current meteorological data, an optimal flight trajectory making it possible to generate a dissipation of the energy of the aircraft to bring it, at a stabilized final position, into a final energy state with a minimum ground distance, the optimal flight trajectory defining positions at which actions must be implemented on the aircraft, and a data transmission unit to transmit at least the minimum distance to at least one user system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Jean-Claude Mere, Ramon Andreu Altava
  • Patent number: 11861948
    Abstract: An apparatus for determining a resource remaining datum of an electric aircraft is disclosed. The apparatus includes a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor. The memory contains instructions configuring the processor to receive aircraft data from at least a sensing device, wherein the at least a sensing device is configured to measure at least a parameter of a battery pack of the electric aircraft and generate aircraft data as a function of the at least a parameter of the battery pack of the electric aircraft. The memory contains instructions configuring the processor to determine a reserve energy as a function of a flight mode of the electric aircraft and determine a resource remaining datum as a function of the aircraft data and the reserve energy, wherein the resource remaining datum is related to the battery pack of the electric aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Steven J. Foland, Thomas Henck, Herman Wiegman
  • Patent number: 11862029
    Abstract: Autoland systems and processes for landing an aircraft without pilot intervention are described. In implementations, the autoland system includes a memory operable to store one or more modules and at least one processor coupled to the memory. The processor is operable to execute the one or more modules to identify a plurality of potential destinations for an aircraft; calculate a merit for each potential destination identified; select a destination based upon the merit; and create a route from a current position of the aircraft to an approach fix associated with the destination that accounts for the terrain characteristic(s) and/or obstacle characteristic(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Garmin International, Inc.
    Inventors: Scott K. Haskins, Noel J. Duerksen, Benjamin N. Patel, Eric Tran, Joseph R. Lombardo, Clayton E. Barber
  • Patent number: 11854433
    Abstract: Systems and methods of the present invention provide for estimating latent ability of responders to a digital assessment in the form of ability scores and estimating item parameters an assessment item of the digital assessment including difficulty scores and discrimination scores. Maximum likelihood estimation may be performed based on an item response theory model to estimate the item parameters. Supervisory, extraction, and worker modules of a workflow manager module may initiate general purpose graphics processing unit instances and cause these instances to perform the maximum likelihood estimation calculations. The item response theory model may be a two parameter model that is modified to account for changes in difficulty caused by the use of hints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: PEARSON EDUCATION, INC.
    Inventors: Krzysztof Jȩdrzejewski, Quinn Lathrop, Kacper Lodzikowski, Tomasz Matysiak, Mateusz Otmianowski, Malgorzata Schmidt
  • Patent number: 11846944
    Abstract: An aircraft includes at least one line replaceable unit (LRU) configured to determine, based on initial data collected prior to a takeoff roll of the aircraft, a takeoff rotation speed of the aircraft and a rotation time associated with the takeoff rotation speed. The LRU is configured to determine, during the takeoff roll and prior to the rotation time, a predicted speed of the aircraft at the rotation time. The predicted speed is at least partially based on data collected during the takeoff roll. The LRU is also configured to determine whether an alert condition is satisfied at least partially based on whether a disparity between the takeoff rotation speed and the predicted speed exceeds a rotation speed disparity threshold and to generate a takeoff performance alert in response to the alert condition being satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Erek S. Barhoum, Paul E. Poteet, Ross Godwin, John Richard Shipway, Hamid Reza Radfar, Hien M. Tang
  • Patent number: 11825971
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments relate to an apparatus comprising a receiving device (200) configured to receive a package (1) delivered via an airborne drone (100). The receiving device (200) includes a receptacle (201), an optical scanner (208), a transceiver (207), and at least one light emitter (204) in operative connection with a computer (203). The optical scanner (208) is operative to read optical indicia that includes a delivery code. The transceiver (207) is operative to receive a signal that includes a verification code and an encrypted one time code from the drone (100). If the verification code has a predetermined relationship with the delivery information, the computer (203) is operative to decrypt the one time code and to transmit an encrypted optical signal through the at least one light emitter (204) whereby the drone (100) is enabled to identify the receiving device (200) and to position the package (1) therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Inventor: Nikolaus Holzer
  • Patent number: 11822330
    Abstract: A method for operating an aircraft with N>4 drive units. A flight control system (FCS) generates control commands u_COM, u_COM?U?R{circumflex over (?)}N, for the drive units, via a first channel. u represents limitations of the drive units. The FCS generates pseudo-control commands ?_COM, ?_COMER{circumflex over (?)}4, in the first channel, which specify torques about corresponding axes of rotation of the aircraft and a thrust, a control matrix M?R{circumflex over (?)}(4×N) with ?=M u establishing a relationship with the control commands u; in the first channel. Admissible control commands u_COM?U are calculated from the pseudo-control commands; and the first channel is monitored and, based on a result, is passivated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Volocopter GmbH
    Inventors: Johannes Stephan, Jan Zwiener
  • Patent number: 11820353
    Abstract: An aircraft automatic braking system, comprising: a first functional module arranged in order to implement a state machine that includes a first branch comprising first states corresponding to a landing of the aircraft, a second branch comprising second states corresponding to a rejected take-off of the aircraft, and transitions, the first states, the second states and the transitions being defined independently of deceleration rates; a second functional module arranged in order to define a target deceleration of the aircraft at least on the basis of the deceleration rates and a current state of the state machine; and a third functional module arranged in order to define, at least on the basis of the current state and the target deceleration, an automatic braking command in order to control actuators of wheel brakes of the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: SAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS
    Inventors: Maria Belen Molina Agradano, Louis Christian Risselin
  • Patent number: 11808606
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for generating a runway landing alert for an aircraft. The method comprises establishing an altitude parameter and a safety envelope for a designated target runway of the aircraft. A track of the aircraft is monitored with reference to a centerline of the target runway. Any deviation by the aircraft from the centerline of the target runway is detected and determined if it is within a margin of error. If the deviation is within the margin of error, an altitude parameter is increased. If the aircraft is determined to still be maneuvering with respect to the centerline of the target runway, the altitude parameter is decreased. Otherwise, an alert is generated if the aircraft is outside of the safety envelope.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Glen Burlingame, Yasuo Ishihara, Steve Johnson, James Ehlers, Esko Mannisto
  • Patent number: 11804138
    Abstract: In an aspect of the present disclosure is a system of automated fleet management for aerial vehicles, including a first aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle comprising: a first sensor configured to measure an external metric and generate external datum based on the external metric; and a second sensor configured to measure an aircraft metric and generate aircraft datum based on the aircraft metric; and a computing device operating on the first aerial vehicle, the computing device communicatively connected to a network including at least a second aerial vehicle, the computing device configured to: receive the external datum from the first sensor of the first aerial vehicle and the aircraft datum from the second sensor of the first aerial vehicle; and transmit at least a flight plan update element to the network based on the external datum and the aircraft datum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Steven J. Foland, Lochie Ferrier, Nick Warren, John Palombini
  • Patent number: 11802489
    Abstract: In accordance with at least one aspect of this disclosure, a system includes a turbine configured to fluidly connect to a heat engine to be driven by exhaust from the heat engine, the turbine including a turbine shaft, and a generator operatively coupled to the turbine shaft to be driven by the turbine configured to receive rotational input power from turbine shaft and to convert the rotational input power to output power to generate electrical energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
    Inventor: Todd A. Spierling
  • Patent number: 11790741
    Abstract: A drone security system with at least a drone and a drone base having been setup with locations that are part of a tradition security systems and where the traditional security system is in communication with drone base enabling the drone to respond to events that occur in the traditional security system and for the drone to also follow a predetermined path with checkpoints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Inventor: Albert Williams
  • Patent number: 11790797
    Abstract: A flight deck system and a method for providing a flight crew with a ground path to a destination at an aerodrome for taxiing is disclosed. The flight deck system includes a controller configured to: set a destination point on the ground at the aerodrome for an airborne aircraft that is preparing to land; estimate a stopping point for the aircraft on a runway; and predict a ground path for the aircraft to follow at the aerodrome from the runway to the destination point. To predict the controller is further configured to: determine a starting point on the runway for the predicted ground path; and determine a runway exit point to a taxiway. The controller is further configured to cause the predicted ground path to be displayed on a flight deck display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Gang He, Rui Wang
  • Patent number: 11783720
    Abstract: A system for rendering local aircraft traffic by defining boundaries of risk receives current aircraft locations for a plurality of aircraft, including altitudes, and determines multiple boundaries of risk for each aircraft. The multiple boundaries of risk are then consolidated according to risk level where such boundaries of multiple aircraft overlap or nearly overlap. Areas of risk are outlined according to common risk levels of multiple aircraft and the original diamond icons are unrendered. Ranges to the nearest aircraft in each direction are identified, and indicators of such direction and range to the nearest aircraft are rendered around the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Jacob G. Teague, Christopher Crain
  • Patent number: 11747170
    Abstract: A method and system for estimating an angular deviation from a reference guidance axis, a position and a velocity of an aircraft. The system includes an offset collection module for collecting an offset measured by a measurement module, a position vector collection module for collecting a position vector measured by a position vector measurement module, a velocity vector collection module, a module for estimating the angular deviation of a reference guidance axis with respect to the approach axis towards the runway, for estimating the position of the aircraft with respect to the runway and for estimating the velocity of the aircraft with respect to the runway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignees: Airbus SAS, Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Guillaume Alcalay, Thierry Bourret, Imad Lebbos, Michel Padovani
  • Patent number: 11741702
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation system is configured to automatically identify a suitable UAV landing site, for example, in forced-landing (e.g., emergency) scenarios. In some examples, the system receives two or more overlapping images depicting a landscape underneath an airborne unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); generates, based on the two or more overlapping images, a depth map for the landscape; identifies, based on the depth map, regions of the landscape having a depth variance below a threshold value; determines, for each of the regions of the landscape having a depth variance below the threshold value, a landing zone quality score indicative of the depth variance and a semantic type of the region of the landscape; identifies, based on the landing zone quality scores, a suitable location for landing the UAV; and causes the UAV to automatically navigate toward and land on the suitable location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Carl Arthur Dins, Alberto Speranzon, Vijay Venkataraman, Juan Hu, Zhiyong Dai
  • Patent number: 11741620
    Abstract: Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that detect planar regions using depth points from multiple depth sensors (e.g., a sparse array of depth sensors). In some implementations, depth points are obtained from depth sensors, the depth points corresponding to distances of portions of a physical environment from the depth sensors. In some implementations, a subset of the depth points corresponding to a planar region are identified based on positions of the depth sensors corresponding to the depth points of the subset. In some implementations, the planar region is expanded to include an additional depth point or an additional planar region based on expansion criteria, wherein the expansion criteria require that the additional depth point or additional planar region be within a predetermined distance of the planar region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Seongdo Kim
  • Patent number: 11721226
    Abstract: Vertical resolution and/or vertical accuracy of terrain elevation data near an aircraft runway is adjusted by obtaining local terrain data, yielding a first elevation value for a query location. A processor receptive of the first elevation value computes plane equations based on a predetermined standard model adapted to geometrically conform to the aircraft runway, yielding a second elevation value for the query location. The processor selectively uses the first and second elevation values to generate an adjusted elevation value that is supplied to a terrain avoidance and warning system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Sergio Ferreira, Brendan Moran
  • Patent number: 11714191
    Abstract: Embodiments for a terrain following (TF) radar configured for use in an airborne system are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a radar return comprising dual polarimetry radar data is processed to determine a Correlation Coefficient (CC), a Differential Reflectivity (ZDR), and a Specific Differential Phase (KDP). Discriminator logic is applied to the CC, the ZDR and the KDP to determine whether the radar return comprises solely rain. Further signal processing may be performed on the radar return when the radar return does not comprise solely rain. When the radar signal comprises solely rain, the radar return is tagged as a rain return. Applying the discriminator logic may include applying linear and/or quadratic functions to the CC, the ZDR and the KDP to determine whether the radar return comprises solely rain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Stephen R. Porter
  • Patent number: 11687067
    Abstract: According to certain aspects of the disclosure, a computer-implemented method may be used for detecting health status of an environmental control system. The method may include receiving aircraft data of an aircraft and receiving flight data of an aircraft. Calculating a predicted performance of the aircraft based on the received aircraft data and the received flight data and generating at least one model scalar or residual, wherein the at least one model scalar or residual is generated based on the aircraft data of the aircraft. Identifying at least one pattern from the at least one model scalar or residual and classifying the at least one pattern into at least one of a plurality of classifications. Identifying a failure of modes or components from the classifications and transmitting a maintenance report once the failure of modes or components is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Qingqiu Shao, Gary Kumagai, Bin Dong, Kyusung Kim, Mohit Singhai
  • Patent number: 11688291
    Abstract: Methods and systems of determining and displaying a taxiing route on an airport moving map. The methods and systems include computer implemented steps of: deriving a location of the ground traffic with respect to taxiways or runways at an airport and a direction of travel of the ground traffic, executing a route planning algorithm for determining a route including one or more taxiways and runways from an aircraft location to the taxi destination using, as inputs, airport data from an airport mapping database, the location of the ground traffic, the direction of travel of the ground traffic, and a taxi destination, and generating a display for the display device including an airport moving map based on airport data from the airport mapping database and including a graphical depiction of the route on the airport moving map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Rui Wang, Gang He, Zuowei He
  • Patent number: 11663571
    Abstract: A computer system includes an inventory management server, a plurality of point-of-sale (POS) terminals communicating with the inventory management server over a first network, a face recognition computer having a camera communicating with the inventory management server over the first network, and a portable terminal communicating wirelessly with the inventory management server over a second network. The inventory management server is configured to generates alerts that are displayed on the portable terminal based on first data from the POS terminals and second data from the face recognition computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kentaro Okamoto
  • Patent number: 11657721
    Abstract: A system and apparatus for assisting in determining the best course of action at any particular point inflight for any category of emergency. The system monitors a plurality of static and dynamic flight parameters including atmospheric conditions along the flight path, ground conditions and terrain, and conditions aboard the aircraft. Based on these parameters, the system may provide continually updated information about the best available landing sites or recommend solutions to aircraft configuration errors. In case of emergency, the system may provide procedure sets associated with a hierarchy of available emergency landing sites (or execute these procedure sets via the autopilot system) depending on the specific nature of the emergency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Otto Aero Company
    Inventors: Sean Patrick Suiter, Richard Andrew Kruse
  • Patent number: 11656635
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a heading generation method of an unmanned aerial vehicle including the following steps of: making a preliminary flight for selecting a point of view to record flight waypoints, the waypoints including positioning data and flight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; receiving and recording flight waypoints of the unmanned aerial vehicle; generating a flight trajectory according to waypoints of the preliminary flight; editing the flight trajectory to obtain a new flight trajectory; and transmitting the edited new flight trajectory to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the new flight trajectory. The present invention further relates to a heading generation system of an unmanned aerial vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ye Tao, Jianyu Song, Renli Shi
  • Patent number: 11638257
    Abstract: A method, system and apparatus are disclosed. A base station configured to communicate with a wireless device (UE) is provided. The base station is configured to, and/or comprise a radio interface and/or comprising processing circuitry configured to configure the UE to transmit an indicator associated with flight information in a predefined message associated with UE assistance information, and receive the predefined message, the predefined message including the indicator associated with the flight information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Helka-Liina Määttanen, Siva Muruganathan, Zhenhua Zou, Attila Takács
  • Patent number: 11623738
    Abstract: A system for the prioritization of flight controls in an electric aircraft is illustrated. The system includes a plurality of flight components, a sensor, and a computing device. The plurality of flight components are coupled to the electric aircraft. The sensor is coupled to each flight component of the plurality of flight components. Each sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to detect a failure event of a flight component of the plurality of flight components and generate a failure datum associated to the flight component of the plurality of flight components. The computing device is communicatively connected to the sensor and is configured to receive the failure datum associated to the flight component of the plurality of flight component from the sensor, determine a prioritization element as a function of the failure datum, and restrict at least a flight element as a function of the prioritization element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Joshua E. Auerbach, Nicholas Moy, Collin Freiheit