Abstract:
An auxiliary actuator (49) comprises a two stage telescopic hydraulic unit comprising first (59, 63) and second (56, 50) stage piston and cylinder actuators operating coaxially within an outer casing (50). A respective actuator is connected to a respective one of the strut (1) and bogie beam (4). The second stage actuator (56, 60) serves to control the tilt position of the bogie beam (4) relative to the strut (1). The second stage actuator (56. 60), when in the retracted position with the first stage actuator (59, 63) in the extended position, limits the length ol the auxiliary actuator (9) between its connections (62,67) to the strut (1) and bogie beam (4), so as to assume a predetermined intermediate length in which the bogie beam (4) is restrained to tilt about the auxiliary pivot (14) and thereby lengthens the landing gear during take-off.
Abstract:
A landing gear for an aircraft includes a shock absorber strut (1) with upper and lower telescoping portions (2, 3), the upper portion (2) being connectable to the airframe of the aircraft. An arm (4) extends fore and aft relative to the aircraft and carrying a landing wheel, (7, 71), and pivotally connects by a main pivot (5) to the lower portion (3) of the shock absorber strut. A load reacting unit (9) connects between the arm (4) and the shock absorber strut (1) for reacting to load applied between the arm and shock absorber strut on landing. An indicator (60) monitors the load applied to the load reacting unit (9) on landing. The load reacting unit (9) may be connected between a forward end of the arm (4) and the upper portion (2) of the shock absorber strut to make the gear act as a semi-levered landing gear. Alternatively, the load reacting unit (9) may be connected between the arm (4) and the lower portion (3) of the shock absorber strut to act as a pitch trimmer. The arm (4) may include a bogie beam with fore and aft landing wheels (7, 71) with the main pivot (5) therebetween. The load reacting unit (9) preferably has a fluid pressure unit and the indicator (60) includes a mechanical indicator that operates at a predetermined pressure threshold.
Abstract:
An intelligent query system for processing voiced-based queries is disclosed, which uses a combination of both statistical and semantic based processing to identify the question posed by the user by understanding the meaning of the user's utterance. Based on identifying the meaning of the utterance, the system selects a single answer that best matches the user's query. The answer that is paired to this single question is then retrieved and presented to the user. The system, as implemented, accepts environmental variables selected by the user and is scalable to provide answers to a variety and quantity of user-initiated queries.
Abstract:
A method of monitoring an alarm system comprises transmitting a sound alert signal, receiving the transmitted sound alert signal, comparing the received sound alert signal with a reference signal having parameters dependent upon equivalent parameters of the transmitted sound alert signal, and outputting a signal indicating whether or not the equivalent parameters of the received sound alert signal have a predetermined relationship with said parameters of the transmitted sound alert signal.
Abstract:
A spinal implant system for restricting flexion of a spine includes an elongate band proportioned to engage at least two spinous processes. During use, the band is positioned engaging the spinous processes at a spinal segment of interest, where it restricts flexion at the segment. The length and tension of the band may be adjustable following to implantation using percutaneous or transcutaneous means.
Abstract:
A spinal implant system for restricting flexion of a spine includes an elongate band proportioned to engage at least two spinous processes. During use, the band is positioned engaging the spinous processes at a spinal segment of interest, where it restricts flexion at the segment. The length and tension of the band may be adjustable following to implantation using percutaneous or transcutaneous means.
Abstract:
A damper for an airplane landing gear leg comprises a main strut (11) and a rod piston (13) co-operating with the strut (11) to define a main chamber (15) and annular chamber (16) for hydraulic fluid, and presenting internally two adjacent chambers (19, 20) that are isolated from each other by a separator piston (21). The damper (10) further comprises a first secondary strut (26) telescopically Slidable on the above-mentioned rod piston (13), and a second secondary strut (37) telescopically slidable on the other end of the first secondary strut (26). The two second annular chambers (31, 40) as defined in this way are respectively connected to associated control circuits thus enabling the total length of the damper to be shortened or lengthened respectively for the purpose of causing the landing gear to contract or to be extended.
Abstract:
A speech recognition system includes distributed processing across a client and server for recognizing a spoken query by a user. A number of different speech models for different natural languages are used to support and detect a natural language spoken by a user. In some implementations an interactive electronic agent responds in the user's native language to facilitate an real-time, human like dialogue.
Abstract:
A damper for an airplane landing gear leg comprises a main strut (11) and a rod piston (13) co-operating with the strut (11) to define a main chamber (15) and annular chamber (16) for hydraulic fluid, and presenting internally two adjacent chambers (19, 20) that are isolated from each other by a separator piston (21). The damper (10) further comprises a first secondary strut (26) telescopically slidable on the above-mentioned rod piston (13), and a second secondary strut (37) telescopically slidable on the other end of the first secondary strut (26). The two second annular chambers (31, 40) as defined in this way are respectively connected to associated control circuits thus enabling the total length of the damper to be shortened or lengthened respectively for the purpose of causing the landing gear to contract or to be extended.
Abstract:
A real-time system incorporating speech recognition and linguistic processing for recognizing a spoken query by a user and distributed between client and server, is disclosed. The system accepts user's queries in the form of speech at the client where minimal processing extracts a sufficient number of acoustic speech vectors representing the utterance. These vectors are sent via a communications channel to the server where additional acoustic vectors are derived. Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), and appropriate grammars and dictionaries conditioned by the selections made by the user, the speech representing the user's query is fully decoded into text (or some other suitable form) at the server. This text corresponding to the user's query is then simultaneously sent to a natural language engine and a database processor where optimized SQL statements are constructed for a full-text search from a database for a recordset of several stored questions that best matches the user's query. Further processing in the natural language engine narrows the search to a single stored question. The answer corresponding to this single stored question is next retrieved from the file path and sent to the client in compressed form. At the client, the answer to the user's query is articulated to the user using a text-to-speech engine in his or her native natural language. The system requires no training and can operate in several natural languages.