Innovative Real Time Estimator for Redundancy of Angle of Attack Sensors in Commercial Aircraft

The angle of attack is a critical parameter for both General and Commercial Aviation aircraft, whose erroneous measurement could cause the loss of vehicle control. This paper presents an innovative and reliable angle of attack estimator, which does not require any dedicated sensor, neither detailed information about the aerodynamics of the specific aircraft. The algorithm could be used to provide General Aviation pilot with an immediate, accurate, and clear visual display of trend toward stall and stall margin or to generate a redundant independent signal for a fault tolerant measurement system based on classical voting algorithms, applicable to Commercial Aviation aircraft. The estimator demonstrated excellent performance, assessed through a high fidelity General Aviation simulation environment and Monte Carlo analyses. Its exploitation could contribute to reduce the angle of attack related accidents in the air transport system.