Aircraft loss-of-control: Real-time adaptive prediction of safe control margins and pilot advisory displays
Predictive systems with the ability to warn pilots of impending entry into loss-of-control have the potential to improve safety in flight. Along these lines, the research documented in this dissertation has sought to develop an early warning mechanism to predict an aircraft’s “receding-horizon” safe control envelope and warn pilots of future impending excursion of its safe flight envelope. The intent of the concept is to mitigate entry into loss-of-control by continually keeping the aircraft at a certain time-distance from the edge of the flight envelope. The adaptive prediction architecture estimates the aircraft's proximity to its control loss boundaries through two methods. The first employs a “deflection-to-go” methodology that calculates critical control deflection, rate, acceleration, and higher order input limits that would drive the aircraft to control loss at some point several seconds in the future, while the second employs a “trajectory-to-go” methodology that optimally derives critical control trajectories that should not be exceeded for the aircraft to stay within the safe flight envelope. These critical inputs and trajectories form the boundaries of a safe control envelope or safe control space, and are presented on a pilot advisory display implemented on head-up augmented-reality technologies. Using the display, the pilot is provided with pre-emptive warning of impending entry into control loss within the look-ahead prediction window. The prediction architectures are applied to a dynamically-coupled 8th order light business jet model in desktop simulation and pilot-in-the-loop simulated flight testing, and results demonstrate successful prediction of the critical control limits that should not be exceeded in order to avoid future entry into control loss.
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