A system and method for monitoring the health of a heater connected to a power supply by first and second power leads which conduct an inlet and outlet current, respectively. The system includes an injection transformer with a number of primary turns that are inductively coupled to the first power lead, a signal generator configured to generate and supply a time-varying injection signal to the primary turns thereby imposing the time-varying injection signal on the inlet current, and a signal reader configured to receive a diagnostic signal from the heater, filter the diagnostic signal to pass a frequency associated with the time-varying injection signal, and produce a heater capacitance signal that is indicative of a capacitance value of the heater, where the heater capacitance signal is indicative of the health of the heater.

A method is for detecting a blockage of a wind vane (12) of an aircraft, with the wind vane (12) including a support (20), a paddle (22) mounted rotating relative to the support (20) along an axis (A), a motor (28) able to exert a rotational torque on the paddle (22) along the axis (A), the motor (28) being connected to a processing unit (18). The method includes applying a predetermined blockage detection torque on the paddle (22) by the motor (28); measuring at least one piece of information representative of a resistance of the paddle (22) to the predetermined detection torque; and generating, via the processing unit (18), a blocking information signal, if a predetermined condition based on the representative information is verified.

A corrosion-resistant air data probe includes a hollow tube having at least one opening, an inner surface of the hollow tube defining an interior cavity, a heating element, and a continuous layer of a braze material. The heating element is disposed adjacent to the inner surface, within the interior cavity. The continuous layer of the braze material completely covers the heating element and covers at least a portion of the inner surface.

A distributed air data module system includes several air data systems and a control module communicatively connected to each air data system via a data channel. Each of the air data systems includes a sensor that is configured to sense an air data parameter and to provide a sensor output signal that is indicative of the sensed air data parameter, and a sensor analog-to-digital converter that produces a digital air data parameter signal that is representative of the sensor output signal. Each air data system has an associated air data system address code. The control module is configured to generate a selected air data system address code corresponding to a selected air data systems, receive the digital air data parameter signal associated with the selected air data system via the data channel, and transmit the digital air data parameter signal via an aircraft data bus.

A flight condition determination device, in particular for autonomous use in an aircraft without connection to avionics systems, includes a housing, a triaxial acceleration sensor installed in the housing, a processor, which is coupled to the triaxial acceleration sensor and installed in the housing, a working memory coupled to the processor, and a power supply unit integrated in the housing, having a power supply socket, via which the flight condition determination device is connectable to an electrical energy supply source of an aircraft. The processor is configured to evaluate acceleration values continuously received from the triaxial acceleration sensor and to determine a flight condition signal from the evaluated acceleration values.

An acoustic air data system includes first and second acoustic transmitters, an array of acoustic receivers, and control circuitry. The array is positioned to receive first and second acoustic signals. The control circuitry determines time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the first and second acoustic signals. The control circuitry determines, for each of a first and second set of acoustic receiver pairs, a signal velocity of the first and second acoustic signals, respectively, based on a distance between an inner acoustic receiver and an outer acoustic receiver and a corresponding TDOA for each pair of acoustic receivers. The control circuitry estimates one or more of wind angle, speed of sound, Mach number, and true airspeed of the airflow about the exterior of the vehicle based on parameters of a best fit circle.

A wind estimation system for an aircraft includes a first sensor configured to sense a first position associated with an aircraft control component in a wind condition, a second sensor configured to sense a first configuration associated with a rotor system of the aircraft in the wind condition, and at least one controller in communication with at least one of the first sensor or the second sensor. The at least one controller is configured to determine a tip-path-plane angle of the aircraft based on the first position and the first configuration, and determine at least one of a current wind speed or current wind direction based on the tip-path-plane angle.

A method and system for determining an estimation of an anemometric parameter of an aircraft. The anemometric parameter including an angle of attack, a sideslip angle and a calibrated airspeed. The method including obtaining an indication of a secondary surface state of the aircraft; obtaining a position indication of a horizontal primary surface; obtaining a load applied estimation on a corresponding actuator using the position indication of the horizontal primary surface and the position of the corresponding actuator; accessing a lookup table with the indication of the secondary surface state of the aircraft, the load estimation applied on the corresponding actuator, and the position of the corresponding actuator; obtaining an estimation of the anemometric parameter associated with the horizontal primary surface; providing the estimation of the anemometric parameter associated with the horizontal primary surface and wherein the lookup table is generated during a learning phase.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to predicting failure and/or estimating remaining useful life of an air-data-probe heater. Failure is predicted or useful life is estimated based on an electrical metric of the electrical operating power provided to a resistive heating element of the air-data-probe heater. The electrical metric of the air data probe heater is one or more of: i) phase relation between voltage across the resistive heating element and leakage current, which is conducted from the resistive heating element to a conductive sheath surrounding the resistive heating element; ii) a time-domain profile of leakage current through the heating element insulation during a full power cycle; and/or iii) high-frequency components of the electrical current conducted by the resistive heating element and/or the voltage across the resistive heating element.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to predicting failure and/or estimating remaining useful life of an air-data-probe heater. Failure is predicted or useful life is estimated based on an electrical metric of the electrical operating power provided to a resistive heating element of the air-data-probe heater. The electrical metric of the air data probe heater is one or more of: i) phase relation between voltage across the resistive heating element and leakage current, which is conducted from the resistive heating element to a conductive sheath surrounding the resistive heating element; ii) a time-domain profile of leakage current through the heating element insulation during a full power cycle; and/or iii) high-frequency components of the electrical current conducted by the resistive heating element and/or the voltage across the resistive heating element.