US-12619258-B2 - Systems and methods for aircraft landing guidance during GNSS denied environment

US12619258B2US 12619258 B2US12619258 B2US 12619258B2US-12619258-B2

Abstract

A system comprises a GNSS sensor onboard an aerial vehicle; a monitor warning system (MWS) that determines whether the vehicle is in a GNSS denied environment; and a flight management system that includes a landing guidance module, and a database having location coordinates of landing sites. Onboard vision sensors and a radar velocity system (RVS) communicate with the guidance module. When the MWS determines that the vehicle is in a GNSS denied environment, the guidance module calculates an optimal flight path by receiving image data from the vision sensors; receiving position, velocity and altitude data from the RVS; receiving location coordinates of a landing site; processing the image data, and the position, velocity and altitude data, to determine a location of the vehicle and provide 3D imaging of a route to the landing site; and calculating a flight path angle to the landing site, using vehicle and landing site coordinates.

Inventors

Arpan Vasavada
R Harsha Niyogi
Chiranjeevi Kamireddy

Assignees

HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240312
Priority Date: 20240111

Claims (11)

1 . A system comprising: a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor onboard an aerial vehicle; a monitor warning system in operative communication with the GNSS sensor, the monitor warning system operative to determine whether the aerial vehicle is in a GNSS denied environment where GNSS signals are weak or lost, such that GNSS signal strength falls below a user selected threshold level; a flight management system onboard the aerial vehicle, the flight management system including at least one processor that hosts a landing guidance module, and a navigation database that includes location coordinates of one or more landing sites; one or more vision sensors mounted on the aerial vehicle and in operative communication with the landing guidance module; a radar velocity system (RVS) onboard the aerial vehicle and in operative communication with the landing guidance module, the RVS operative to obtain a set of parameters that comprise: position, velocity and altitude data for the aerial vehicle; and depth mapping data and ground avoidance data for a surrounding environment; and an inertial navigation system onboard the aerial vehicle and in operative communication with the RVS; wherein when the monitor warning system determines that the aerial vehicle is located in a GNSS denied environment, the landing guidance module is activated and is operative to calculate an optimal flight path by a process that comprises: receive image data from the one or more vision sensors, the image data corresponding to one or more terrain images over which the aerial vehicle is traveling; receive the position, velocity and altitude data for the aerial vehicle from the RVS and the inertial navigation system; receive the depth mapping data and the ground avoidance data from the RVS; receive location coordinates of a landing site selected by a user from the navigation database; process the image data, the position, velocity and altitude data, and the depth mapping data, to determine a real time location of the aerial vehicle and provide three-dimensional (3D) imaging of a route to the landing site; and calculate a landing flight path angle with respect to the landing site when the aerial vehicle approaches the landing site, using current location coordinates of the aerial vehicle and the location coordinates of the landing site.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flight management system further includes a nearest landing site algorithm operative to provide an optimal landing site based on a state of the aerial vehicle and availability of landing locations.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the landing guidance module is further operative to receive depth and velocity estimates from the RVS to calculate an optimal flight path angle.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the landing guidance module is operative to send a guidance path based on the optimal flight path angle to an automatic flight control system (AFCS) on the aerial vehicle, wherein the AFCS is configured to follow the guidance path to perform a safe landing of the aerial vehicle at the landing site.
5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the landing guidance module is operative to provide a guidance path based on the optimal flight path angle to a pilot of the aerial vehicle, such that the pilot can follow the guidance path to perform a safe landing of the aerial vehicle at the landing site.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vision sensors include one or more infrared (IR) cameras.
7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a display system configured to receive multiple inputs, including a 3D camera view for providing accurate guidance and situational awareness to a pilot.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the display system is configured to show a guidance path based on an optimal flight path angle calculated by the landing guidance module, and announce a message when the landing guidance module is activated.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the aerial vehicle is a crewed aircraft.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the aerial vehicle is an uncrewed aircraft.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the aerial vehicle comprises a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, or an urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Indian Provisional Application No. 202411002069, filed on Jan. 11, 2024, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND The landing phase of an aircraft is a critical phase of flight, and controlling attitude during the landing phase is essential to a successful landing. For manual flight of an aircraft, a pilot controls the attitude with manual controls. During an automatic landing of an aircraft, an onboard autopilot system controls the attitude. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensors on aircraft, such as global positioning system (GPS) sensors, provide landing guidance in the form of distance to land the aircraft, direction and location of the aircraft, and the like, for automatic landing or a piloted landing of the aircraft. When the aircraft is in a GNSS denied environment, it is difficult to land the aircraft safely at a landing site as various parameters, such as distance, direction, location, and other parameters are absent. SUMMARY A system comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor onboard an aerial vehicle; a monitor warning system in operative communication with the GNSS sensor, the monitor warning system operative to determine whether the aerial vehicle is in a GNSS denied environment; and a flight management system onboard the aerial vehicle, the flight management system including at least one processor that hosts a landing guidance module, and a navigation database that includes location coordinates of one or more landing sites. One or more vision sensors mounted on the aerial vehicle are in operative communication with the landing guidance module. A radar velocity system (RVS) onboard the aerial vehicle is in operative communication with the landing guidance module. An inertial navigation system onboard the aerial vehicle is in operative communication with the RVS. When the monitor warning system determines that the aerial vehicle is located in a GNSS denied environment, the landing guidance module is activated and is operative to calculate an optimal flight path by a process that comprises: receive image data from the one or more vision sensors, the image data corresponding to one or more terrain images over which the aerial vehicle is traveling; receive position, velocity and altitude data for the aerial vehicle from the RVS; receive location coordinates of a landing site selected by a user from the navigation database; process the image data, and the position, velocity and altitude data, to determine a real time location of the aerial vehicle and provide three-dimensional imaging of a route to the landing site; and calculate a landing flight path angle with respect to the landing site when the aerial vehicle reaches the landing site, using current location coordinates of the aerial vehicle and the location coordinates of the landing site. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description with reference to the drawings. Understanding that the drawings depict only typical embodiments and are not therefore to be considered limiting in scope, the invention will be described with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for landing guidance in a GNSS denied environment, according to one embodiment; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operational method performed by a landing guidance module for an aerial vehicle, according to an exemplary implementation; FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example landing flight path angle and distance calculation for an aerial vehicle with respect to a vertiport; FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system for producing standard and optimal flight path angle calculations for landing guidance in a GNSS denied environment, according to an example embodiment; FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system for landing guidance of an aircraft in a GPS denied environment, according to one example of an automatic landing scenario; FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for landing guidance of an aircraft in a GPS denied environment, according to one example of an automatic landing scenario; FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a system for landing guidance of an aircraft in a GPS denied environment, according to one example of a manual landing scenario; FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for landing guidance of an aircraft in a GPS denied environment, according to one example of a manual landing scenario; FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a sensor fusion system for use in providing landing guidance to an aircraft in a GNSS denied environment, according to an example embodiment; and FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an aided navigation system for use in providing landing guidance to an aircraft in a GNSS denied environment, according to an example embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following d