US Patent:
20140226153, Aug 14, 2014
Inventors:
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation - , US
Zaffir A. Chaudhry - South Glastonbury CT, US
Seung Bum Kim - Manchester CT, US
Austin Fang - Fairfield CT, US
Matthew James Wasilewski - Meriden CT, US
Robert Mark Lex - Guilford CT, US
Curtis S. James - Palm City FL, US
Harvey A. Samuels - West Palm Beach FL, US
Alonso Guzman - Riviera Beach FL, US
David James Majko - Port Saint Lucie FL, US
Assignee:
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation - Stratford CT
International Classification:
G01S 17/42
Abstract:
An optical blade tracking system for a rotary wing aircraft, the system including a light source generating at least one light beam, the light source coupled to a rotor blade of the rotary wing aircraft, wherein movement of the rotor blade is imparted to the light source; a two-dimensional position detector generating signals indicative of a position of the light beam along a first axis and a position of the light beam along a second axis and generating a signal indicative of an angular position of the light beam about a third axis; a processor receiving the signals, the processor determining at least one of lead-lag, flap and pitch of the rotor blade in response to the signals; and a polarizer filter positioned between the light source and the two dimensional position detector, the polarizer filter modulating intensity of the light beam onto the two-dimensional position detector.