A control system is configured to: transmit a verification request signal to a remote device; listen for a verification request reply signal transmitted from the remote device in response to the verification request signal being transmitted; listen for a remote device state signal transmitted from the remote device providing remote device state information indicating in which predefined state the remote device is currently operating, the operation information based on the remote device state information; determine whether information comprised by the verification request reply signal includes expected operation result information being operation result information corresponding to an expected result of the operation defined by the operation information; and control, or provide input to the system to control, motion of the vehicle in response to the motion control signal received from the remote device based on a correspondence between the received operation result information and the expected operation result information.

A control system for an aerospace vehicle includes a voter and a plurality of control blocks. Each control block includes: a controller configured to receive an input signal and perform a control algorithm that includes an integral function on the input signal to provide an output signal; and a feedback controller that is configured to: receive the output signal from the controller, a reference signal from an external controller, and a plant feedback signal from an external plant; perform a feedback algorithm on the output signal to provide an feedback control signal; and perform a combinator algorithm using the reference signal, the plant feedback signal and the feedback control signal to provide the input signal to the controller; wherein the voter is configured to receive the output signals and perform a voting algorithm on the output signals to determine a control signal to provide to the external plant.

Systems and methods for deployment on an autonomous vehicle are provided. In some example embodiments, the system includes a first compute unit and a second compute unit, in which the first compute unit is configured to receive first information of the vehicle and an environment of the vehicle, generate a first control command based on the first information, and transmit the first control command to a controller of the vehicle to effectuate an autonomous operation of the vehicle; and the second compute unit is configured to receive second information of the vehicle and the environment of the vehicle, generate a second control command based on the second information, and only when a fault or failure of the first compute unit is detected, transmits the second control command to the controller of the vehicle to effectuate the autonomous operation of the vehicle.

A control system an unmanned vehicle includes a first processing unit configured to execute a primary autopilot process for controlling the unmanned vehicle. The control system further includes a programmable logic array in operative communication with the first processing unit. The control system also includes a state machine configured in the programmable logic array. The state machine is configured to enable control of the unmanned vehicle according to a backup autopilot process in response to an invalid output of the first processing unit.

An operation-security system for an automated vehicle includes an object-detector and a controller. The object-detector includes at least three sensors. Each sensor is one of a camera used to determine an image-location of an object proximate to a host-vehicle, a lidar-unit used to determine a lidar-location of the object proximate to the host-vehicle, and a radar-unit used to determine a radar-location of the object proximate to the host-vehicle. The controller is in communication with the at least three sensors. The controller is configured to determine a composite-location based on a comparison of locations indicated by the at least three sensors. Information from one sensor is ignored when a respective location indicated by the one sensor differs from the composite-location by greater than an error-threshold. If a remote sensor not on the host-vehicle is used, V2V or V2I communications may be used to communicate a location to the host-vehicle.

In particular embodiments, a computing system may receive, by a processor in communication with an actuator of a vehicle, an instruction associated with an environment external to the vehicle and configured for controlling the actuator of the vehicle. The system may receive, by the processor, sensor data associated with the environment and generated by one or more sensors associated with the vehicle. The system may determine, by the processor, a state associated with an operation mode of the vehicle based on the received sensor data. The system may evaluate, by the processor, whether the instruction is invalid based on the state associated with the operating mode of the vehicle. The system may, subsequent to determining that the instruction is invalid, based on the evaluation, prevent transmission of the instruction to the actuator of the vehicle.

An inceptor apparatus for an aircraft having a primary inceptor member provided in the form of a stick member having a grip portion, at which the stick member can be gripped by a pilot's hand, and a secondary inceptor member provided at an upper portion of the primary inceptor member and having an actuating portion, at which the secondary inceptor member can be manually actuated by a pilot's thumb. Both inceptor members have associated a respective sensor assembly which is provided to generate electronic flight control signals or commands in response to at least one of i) pivoting movements of the respective inceptor member around each of two independent maneuvering axes associated to the inceptor member, ii) forces acting on or via the respective inceptor member in pivoting directions with respect to each of the maneuvering axes, and iii) lateral flexing or bending of the respective inceptor member.

In a network of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, an alert may be triggered when one of the vehicles switches from autonomous to manual mode. The alert may be communicated to nearby autonomous vehicles so that drivers of those vehicles may become aware of a potentially unpredictable manual driver nearby. Drivers of autonomous vehicles who may have become disengaged (e.g., sleeping, reading, talking, etc.) during autonomous driving may become re-engaged upon noticing the alert. A re-engaged driver may choose to switch his/her own vehicle from autonomous to manual mode in order to appropriately react to an unpredictable nearby manual driver. In additional or alternative embodiments, the alert may be triggered or intensified when indications of impairment of a nearby driver or malfunction of a nearby vehicle are detected.

Continued and precise operation of an agricultural implement exists even where a subsystem, such as a GPS receiver, wireless communicator, a sensor, or the like, fails, falters, or is otherwise unusable. Data is continually tracked to the extent possible during failure or faltering and is temporarily stored. To continue operations during periods of unavailability, a representation of planted ground is anticipated by other agricultural implements and/or calculated with agricultural data from other agricultural implements. Normal operations then continue until data sync can catch back up to real-time.

Systems and methods for redundant braking and/or of remotely piloted vehicles are described. A redundant braking system includes a first onboard computing unit configured to receive sync data regularly from a main computing unit, receive heartbeat signal through a communication network from a remote pilot control unit, determine network failure if the heartbeat signal is not received for more than a threshold period of time, and generate a braking command. The system includes arrangements to activate brakes of the vehicle based on the braking command received from the local computing unit. The system may also generate a steering command to change the lane of the vehicle and park at a safe spot.