Patent ID: 11970284
Assignee: TEXTRON INNOVATIONS INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 10:
11. A method of determining an angle-of-attack (AOA) of a powered vehicle, the method comprising, during flight:
powering an unmanned aircraft with a fixed pitch propeller along a velocity vector by delivering power from an electric motor to the fixed pitch propeller;
obtaining measurements from one or more sensors on the unmanned aircraft of a voltage and current supplied to the electric motor, altitude, and air temperature;
determining an airspeed value of the unmanned aircraft using an advance ratio and one or more of the measurements;
determining a dynamic pressure from the airspeed value;
determining a body normal coefficient;
determining the AOA by using the body normal coefficient on a lookup curve of a plot comparing body normal coefficients to angles of attack; and
adjusting the power delivered to the propeller based on at least one of the air speed value or the AOA.