Patent ID: 11945604
Assignee: AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE GMBH
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. An aircraft, comprising:
a control computer;
a load determining unit;
a first, central inertial measurement device; and
at least one additional second inertial measurement device at a distance from the first inertial measurement device;
wherein the load determining unit is coupled to the first inertial measurement device and the at least one second inertial measurement device,
wherein the load determining unit is configured to receive instantaneous first accelerations detected by the first inertial measurement device and instantaneous second accelerations detected by the at least one second inertial measurement device,
wherein the load determining unit is configured to determine instantaneous loads acting on the aircraft based on the instantaneous first accelerations and based on the instantaneous second accelerations and to store the instantaneous loads acting on the aircraft in a memory unit or to transfer the instantaneous loads acting on the aircraft to an external unit,
wherein the load determining unit is configured to determine expected maneuver accelerations from the first accelerations and from position information provided by the control computer,
wherein the load determining unit is configured to determine dynamic accelerations on the aircraft by filtering out the expected maneuver accelerations from a totality of the detected first accelerations and second accelerations,
wherein the load determining unit is configured to determine expected maneuver loads on the aircraft from the expected maneuver accelerations by a maneuver load model, to determine dynamic loads on the aircraft from the induced dynamic accelerations and to determine a sum of the expected maneuver loads and the dynamic loads as loads acting on the aircraft, and
wherein the load determining unit is configured to determine modal accelerations of the aircraft, which include rigid body modes and elastic modes of the aircraft, from the detected first accelerations and the detected second accelerations.