Patent ID: 8702033
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: B64C,G01S,G05D,G08G,Y02A

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling a pilotless aircraft comprising: providing the pilotless aircraft with a plurality of control surfaces; connecting an actuator to each of said control surfaces for actuating the control surfaces and on the powerplant of the aircraft; providing a computer system onboard the aircraft in communication with said actuators for operating said actuators; storing data on the normal range of operation for each actuator in the computer system; storing location data on the departing airport on the computer system; storing location data for a predetermined destination (“arrival”) airport on the computer system; initiating the computer system at a location remote from the aircraft; said computer system determining a route (“flight path”) from the departing airport to the arrival airport; said computer operating said actuators to cause said aircraft to fly from said departing airport to said arrival airport without requiring interaction or steering commands from a pilot onboard or remote from said aircraft; providing an aircraft parameter management computer (“APC”) in said computer system for storing the normal range of operation for each actuator and flight control; providing a flight management computer (“FMC”) in said computer system for monitoring the current position of each actuator by comparing the current operation of each actuator to the desired actuator position; providing an Automatic Monitoring System (“AMS”) in said computer system for actuating any actuator that is outside the desired location as determined by the FMC; wherein said AMS monitors the actuators for faults by comparing the current condition each flight control against the normal range stored within the APC; wherein said APC stores a table of fault levels comparing potential conditions of flight controls with their severity level of minor, major, cautious or emergency; and said AMS determining the condition of the flight control, and if said condition of the flight control is outside the normal range stored on the APC, comparing the condition against the potential conditions stored in the APC and determining from the table of faults the severity level of the fault.