Patent ID: 7946165

Claim:
A controller for indicating an overload condition has occurred during aircraft operation for at least one aircraft tire, wheel and/or at least one aircraft landing gear, said controller configured to: receive at least one input indicative of at least one of a load placed on the at least one tire and/or at least one landing gear or an angular velocity of the at least one tire; determine, based on the at least one input, if the at least one tire or landing gear corresponding to the at least one tire has exceeded a prespecified threshold; and based on the determination, provide an output indicative an overload condition of the at least one tire or the landing gear corresponding to the at least one tire wherein the threshold is a velocity threshold, and wherein the controller, to determine if the at least one tire or landing gear has exceeded the prespecified threshold, is configured to: use an accelerometer to determine a rate of vertical descent of an aircraft at a time of aircraft touchdown; compare the determined rate of vertical descent to the prespecified threshold; and conclude a hard landing condition has occurred for the at least one tire and/or landing gear corresponding to the at least one tire if the rate of vertical descent of the aircraft exceeds the prespecified threshold.