Inference and interpolation of continuous 4D trajectories
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorMichal Zajac
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for determining a four-dimensional (4D) trajectory of an aircraft without requiring aircraft performance data or meteorological data. The techniques can include: detecting a plurality of 4D aircraft states of the aircraft, determining, for each of a plurality of pairs of adjacent aircraft states, a respective aircraft transition, detecting a plurality of pairs of repeat adjacent aircraft transition, discarding, for each pair of repeat adjacent aircraft transitions, a respective aircraft state from the plurality of aircraft states, and electronically transmitting the plurality of aircraft states after the discarding.
Claims20
A method of updating a flight plan of an aircraft (702), the method comprising:
- detecting (502) a plurality of aircraft states (102) of the aircraft (702), each aircraft state (102) comprising a latitude value, a longitude value, an altitude value, and a time value, whereby the plurality of states (102) of the aircraft are stored in electronic memory (712) in temporal order;
- determining (504), for each of a plurality of pairs of adjacent aircraft states (102), a respective aircraft transition (104), each transition comprising a planar turn radius (208) value, a vertical turn radius (218) value, and an acceleration (230) value, whereby a plurality of aircraft transitions (104) are stored in electronic memory (712) in temporal order;
- detecting (506) a plurality of pairs of repeat adjacent aircraft transitions (104) comprising:
- respective planar turn radii (208) values whose difference is no more than a first threshold, respective vertical turn radii (218) values whose difference is no more than a second threshold, and respective acceleration (230) values whose difference is no more than a third threshold;
- discarding (506), for each pair of repeat adjacent aircraft transitions, a respective aircraft state (104) from the plurality of aircraft states (104), whereby an amount of data for the plurality of states of the aircraft stored in electronic memory (712) is reduced;
- electronically transmitting (508) from a first aircraft (792) system to a Flight Management System (FMS) the plurality of aircraft states (104) after the discarding;
- and
- updating, by the FMS, a flight plan for the aircraft (702) to represent at least a portion of a trajectory interpolated from the plurality of aircraft states (104), whereby an updated flight plan is produced.
A system for updating a flight plan of an aircraft (702), the system comprising:
- a communications interface (708) configured to detect (502) a plurality of aircraft states (102) of the aircraft, each aircraft state (102) comprising a latitude value, a longitude value, an altitude value, and a time value, whereby the plurality of states (102) of the aircraft are stored in electronic memory (712) in temporal order;
- at least one electronic processor (710) configured to:
- determine (504), for each of a plurality of pairs of adjacent aircraft states (102), a respective aircraft transition (104), each transition (104) comprising a planar turn radius (208) value, a vertical turn radius (218) value, and an acceleration (230) value;
- store a plurality of aircraft transitions (104) in electronic memory (712) in temporal order;
- detect (506) a plurality of pairs of repeat adjacent aircraft transitions (104) comprising:
- respective planar turn radii (208) values whose difference is no more than a first threshold, respective vertical turn radii (218) values whose difference is no more than a second threshold, and respective acceleration (230) values whose difference is no more than a third threshold;
- discard (506) from the electronic memory (712), for each pair of repeat adjacent aircraft transitions (104), a respective aircraft state (102) from the plurality of aircraft states (102), whereby a filtered plurality of aircraft states is produced, and whereby an amount of data stored in electronic memory (712) is reduced;
- and
- a transmitter (708) configured to electronically transmit the filtered plurality of aircraft states (102) from a first aircraft (702) system to a Flight Management System (FMS) configured to update a flight plan for the aircraft (702) to represent at least a portion of a trajectory interpolated from the plurality of aircraft states (104), whereby an updated flight plan is produced.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.