An automated flight control functional testing system includes a first sensor on a pilot input device for sensing position of the pilot input device, and a distributed network of sensors on a plurality of control surfaces of an aircraft for sensing positions of the control surfaces. A controller determines an expected position of each control surface based on data signals received from the first sensor, and the controller determines an actual position of each control surface based on data signals received from the distributed network of sensors. An automated flight control functional testing method includes transmitting angle information to a controller from a first angle sensor on a pilot input device and a second angle sensor on a control surface of an aircraft, and comparing an expected angle of a control surface based on the first sensor with an actual angle of the control surface based on the second sensor.

Disclosed herein are embodiments for providing altitude reporting. Some embodiments may include receiving a query from a first vehicle regarding altitude data of the first vehicle, providing the altitude data to the first vehicle, and receiving, by the computing device, a computed altitude from the first vehicle. Some embodiments include calculating an altitude uncertainty parameter for the first vehicle, determining a true altitude from the altitude data and the altitude uncertainty parameter, and determining whether the true altitude is within a predetermined threshold of a second altitude of a second vehicle. Some embodiments may be configured for, in response to determining that the true altitude is within the predetermined threshold, notifying at least one of the following: the first vehicle or the second vehicle.

Methods and systems are provided for assisting operation of a vehicle deviating from a desired manner of operation, such as an aircraft deviating from a planned trajectory. One method involves identifying a current aircraft altitude, identifying a current aircraft configuration, determining a recommended flight path from the current aircraft altitude for satisfying an upcoming constraint associated with a reference descent strategy based at least in part on the current aircraft configuration in response to a deviation between the current aircraft altitude a target altitude according to the reference descent strategy, and providing an output influenced by the recommended flight path. The recommended flight path includes a recommended vertical profile and a recommended speed profile, and the recommended flight path is configured to vary at least one of a kinetic energy or a potential energy of the aircraft along the recommended flight path en route to the upcoming constraint.

A system includes a processing circuit onboard an aircraft and configured to determine an optimum cruise profile for the aircraft based on a flight plan, a characteristic of the aircraft, and an environmental characteristic. The processing circuit is also configured to determine an optimized cruise vertical path based on the optimum cruise profile and air traffic information of at least one other aircraft, and control an autopilot system of the aircraft to cause the aircraft to follow the optimized cruise vertical path.

Multi-media parcel delivery systems and associated methods are provided herein including systems capable of delivering a parcel through air and one or more bodies of water. In certain embodiments, an aerial vehicle is configured to couple to the parcel using a cable. A control system is used to control operating parameters including velocity, altitude, and pose of the aerial vehicle, and a length and orientation of the cable extending between the aerial vehicle and the parcel.

A method and system to control a rotor system includes automatically changing a rotor speed of the rotor system of the tiltrotor aircraft while moving the rotor system from a first position and a first rotor speed to a second position and a second rotor speed over a time period in accordance with an acceleration-rate profile that varies over the time period using a controller communicably coupled to the rotor system of the tiltrotor aircraft.

Methods and apparatus for automatically extending aircraft wing flaps in response to detecting an excess energy steep descent condition are described. An example control system of an aircraft includes one or more processors. The one or more processors determine whether the aircraft is experiencing an excess energy steep descent (EESD) condition. In response to determining that the aircraft is experiencing the EESD condition, the one or more processors command an actuator of the aircraft coupled to a flap of the aircraft to extend the flap from a current flap position to a subsequent flap position defined by a flap extension sequence.

An aerial vehicle is configured to process an image captured by an imaging device, and to identify a portion of the image that is likely to appear in images subsequently captured by the imaging device based on the motion of the aerial vehicle. A control unit aboard the aerial vehicle generates instructions for controlling such motion and provides the instructions to the imaging device. Based on such instructions, the imaging device processes the image to identify a portion of the image that will appear within a field of view of the imaging device following the motion, and selects a shutter speed, an aperture, a level of gain, or another attribute of the imaging device based on the portion of the image, in order to optimize the quality of an image subsequently captured by the imaging device.

According to one implementation of the present disclosure, a method for determining angle-of-attack for an unpowered vehicle is disclosed. The method includes: determining a monotonic portion of a look-up curve of an angle-of-attack operating plot; during flight, determining, by an accelerometer disposed on the unpowered vehicle, first and second accelerometer outputs, where the first and second accelerometer outputs correspond to first and second body-fixed load factor measurements, respectively; determining an operating point on the monotonic portion by applying a quotient of the first and second accelerometer outputs to the angle-of-attack operating plot; and determining an angle-of-attack parameter corresponding to the determined operating point.

A method includes capturing, by a sensor on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an image of a delivery location. The method also includes determining, based on the image of the delivery location, a segmentation image. The segmentation image segments the delivery location into a plurality of pixel areas with corresponding semantic classifications. The method additionally includes determining, based on the segmentation image, a percentage of obstacle pixels within a surrounding area of a delivery point at the delivery location, wherein each obstacle pixel has a semantic classification indicative of an obstacle in the delivery location. The method further includes based on the percentage of obstacle pixels being above a threshold percentage, aborting a delivery process of the UAV.