US 11,834,188 B2
Health based actuator allocation
Christopher Scott Saunders, San Jose, CA (US); and Mark Johnson Cutler, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Kitty Hawk Corporation, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by Kitty Hawk Corporation, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on May 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/828,729.
Application 17/828,729 is a continuation of application No. 16/698,790, filed on Nov. 27, 2019, granted, now 11,407,521.
Application 16/698,790 is a continuation of application No. 16/133,462, filed on Sep. 17, 2018, granted, now 10,556,704, issued on Feb. 11, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0289399 A1, Sep. 15, 2022
Int. Cl. B64D 31/06 (2006.01); B64D 45/00 (2006.01); G07C 5/08 (2006.01); G05D 1/08 (2006.01); G05D 1/10 (2006.01)
CPC B64D 31/06 (2013.01) [B64D 45/00 (2013.01); G07C 5/0808 (2013.01); B64D 2045/0085 (2013.01); G05D 1/0808 (2013.01); G05D 1/101 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
11. A method, comprising:
receiving a set of one or more desired forces or desired moments associated with an aircraft that includes a plurality of rotor modules including a first rotor module and a second rotor module;
receiving a plurality of health metrics, each of which is associated with a respective one of the plurality of rotor modules, including a first health metric that is associated with the first rotor module and a second health metric that is associated with the second rotor module;
determining a plurality of commands, including a first command associated with the first rotor module and a second command associated with the second rotor module, based at least in part on: (1) the set of desired forces or desired moments and (2) the plurality of health metrics, including by:
determining a plurality of differences between the plurality of health metrics and a threshold, including by:
determining a first difference between the first health metric and the threshold; and
determining a second difference between the second health metric and the threshold; and
determining the plurality of commands based at least in part on the plurality of differences, including by assigning a lower thrust value to the first command based at least in part on the first difference and a higher thrust value to the second command based at least in part on the second difference, wherein the first difference indicates a higher degree of wear on the first rotor module than the second difference indicates for the second rotor module;
sending the plurality of commands to the plurality of rotor modules, wherein each command in the plurality of commands is associated with a respective one of the plurality of rotor modules; and
after the plurality of rotor modules perform the plurality of commands, determining an updated plurality of health metrics.