Development and Assessment of Loss of Control Prevention Techniques

Our team proposes to develop an innovative Angle of Attack (AoA) system for General Aviation (GA) with the new ability to estimate flap position combined with our derived AoA algorithm yielding the correct AoA for the current aircraft configuration. The algorithm will be combined with cost-effective haptic feedback and a head-mounted display. The result provides a substantial improvement in alerting pilots that they are nearing stall conditions, addressing Loss of Control, which is recognized by the FAA and NTSB as the leading cause of fatal GA accidents. Current GA AoA systems are limited due to lack of flap position information, and their displays are not likely to capture a pilot's attention while maneuvering. Our cost-effective haptic feedback (similar to a 'stick shaker' which is known to be the most effective interface but not compatible with GA aircraft), and our head-mounted display are expected to capture the pilot's attention. AAG's experience in developing and flight testing AoA systems and our history of partnering with avionics manufacturers to develop and flight test commercial avionics systems, uniquely position us to successfully develop and commercialize this innovative AoA system. Our novel derived AoA algorithm has been tested in flight against other AoA systems under FAA and internal funding and shown to have good performance to near-stall conditions. Technical objectives for Phase I are to demonstrate technical feasibility of flap deflection estimation, cost effective haptic alerting in a typical GA cockpit, and cost-effective head-mounted display, and to create a prototype implementation of the integrated AoA system ready to flight test in Phase II. The Work Plan includes: development and evaluation of flap position estimation algorithm in simulation and flight; design, prototype development and inflight evaluation of haptic interface; simulation evaluation of AoA alerting on head-mounted display; and integration of components.

The proposed integrated AoA system addresses a key area within NASA's safety research, specifically "develop and demonstrate products to address technologies, simulation capabilities and procedures for reducing flight risk in areas of attitude and energy aircraft state awareness." Our proposed system advances the state of the art in detecting, predicting and preventing a major GA safety problem in real-time, loss of control due to aerodynamic stall. AAG's derived AoA algorithm, coupled with our proposed in-situ flap position estimation algorithm, can be used in concert with a sensed AoA system to provide redundant sources of AoA that are not dependent on the same set of sensors. Highly accurate and redundant AoA information is a key input for NASA's research in detecting and recovering from off-nominal states, including control upset prevention, resilient controls, envelope protection systems, and detecting and recovering from control surface position errors in future aircraft, whether the control surface failed or the sensor feeding back its position failed. Highly accurate AoA information as well as the haptic feedback and the head-mounted display can both be applied to enabling NASA's On-Demand Mobility research to move towards manned vehicles that may be operated by passengers who are not experienced pilots, significantly reducing accidents due to loss of control, loss of attitude awareness, and controlled flight into terrain.

AAG and our industry avionics contacts believe that there is tremendous commercial potential for our integrated AoA system for GA, which addresses the leading cause of fatal GA accidents, Loss of Control, and is a substantial improvement over the commercial systems that are now being developed. Our haptic feedback system could also be used to prevent Controlled Flight into Terrain. The development of a cost-effective head-mounted display suitable for GA opens the door to displaying PFD, navigation, hazard (traffic, terrain, etc.), and other information, including a simple attitude display to prevent a non-instrument pilot losing attitude awareness upon blundering into IMC.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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