# US 12,002,306 B2 · Systems and methods for assessing aircraft performance, aircraft fuel efficiencies, and aircraft fuel reduction technologies

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- Number: US 12,002,306 B2
- Document ID: US12002306B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/493,481
- Filed: 2021-10-04
- Published: 2023-04-06
- Granted: 2024-06-04
- Earliest claimed: 2021-10-04
- Assignees: Vortex Control Technologies, LLC
- Applicants: Vortex Control Technologies LLC
- Inventors: John R. Hooker; Andrew G. Morgan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12002306B2

## CPC

- G06Q 10/04: Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" (market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202)
- G07C 5/0808: {Diagnosing performance data (testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005)}
- B64F 5/60: Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
- G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q 10/0637: Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
- G06Q 10/0639: Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
- G06Q 10/20: Administration of product repair or maintenance
- G06Q 50/40: Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083)
- G07C 5/004: {Indicating the operating range of the engine (economical driving B60R16/0236, F02B77/084; measuring liquid fuel of an engine G01F9/00)}
- G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)}
- G07C 5/085: {using electronic data carriers}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
- B64F: GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING OR REPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

The systems/methods analyze the vast reservoir of data that is collected in-flight during a commercial aircraft's travels over several months. That data is analyzed to identify and remove data points that do not represent stable cruise. This may be achieved in multiple steps to manage the extremely large data sets. The data points, now representing stable cruise, are further analyzed to identify control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance (i.e., mis-rigged). That information is subsequently utilized to re-rig the identified mis-rigged control surfaces which, in turn, results in increased aircraft fuel efficiencies.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computerized method of evaluating performance of an aircraft, comprising the steps of:
receiving flight data regarding flights taken by an aircraft over a period of time, the flight data representing data recorded by one or more onboard flight data recorders during said period of time, the flight data including a plurality of data points, each of said data points identifying a plurality of flight parameters and aircraft component operation information at respectively different moments in time of flight by the aircraft, the aircraft component operation information including data regarding settings of control surfaces of the aircraft;
analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that include at least one flight parameter that represents a non-cruise condition;
filtering the flight data to remove the identified data points to produce a first reduced-size data set that includes only data points that represent a stable cruise condition;
analyzing the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance;
filtering the first reduced-size data set to remove the data points identified as including at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance to produce a second reduced-size data set;
analyzing the first and second reduced-size data sets to ascertain a fuel efficiency that would be gained if the control surfaces of the aircraft that are out-of-tolerance are re-rigged to be in-tolerance;
supplying as an output data identifying at least the ascertained fuel efficiency; and
identifying one or more of said control surfaces of the aircraft for rerigging.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving flight data step comprises receiving flight data regarding flights taken by the aircraft over a period of at least three months.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each of the data points in the received flight data includes data identifying at least Mach, pressure altitude, total air temperature, ground speed, latitude, drift angle, angle of attack, pitch angle, and roll angle.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the received flight data is raw data recorded by said one or more flight data recorders disposed onboard the aircraft during said period of time.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data points in the received flight data correspond to data stored approximately every four seconds by the one or more flight data recorders during flight by the aircraft over said period of time.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising generating from the received flight data derived parameters and adding the derived parameters for each of the data points to the flight data, the derived parameters including at least estimates of lift and drag, specific range, and engine health quality.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, further comprising analyzing the flight data to identify the data points with at least one derived parameter that represents a non-cruise condition.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that include a Mach number that is less than 0.40.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that include a pressure altitude that is less than 12,000 ft.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that represent a non-cruise condition based on parameters relating to speed, altitude and attitude.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a mean acceleration that exceeds ±1 knot/min or represent altitude variations that exceed ±50 ft/min.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a mean drift angle that is not in the range of 0±5 degrees or represent a mean roll attitude that is not in the range of 0±2 degrees.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a Mach variation (Maximum Mach−Minimum Mach) that are not less than 0.005.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the flight data comprises analyzing the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, do not represent a stable cruise condition.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the first reduced-size data comprises analyzing the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that indicate that either a left or a right aileron of the aircraft is outside a range of −1 degree to +1 degree.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the first reduced-size data comprises analyzing the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that correspond to a mean spoiler deflection that is outside a range of −0.2° to +0.6°.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the first reduced-size data comprises analyzing the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that correspond to a rudder deviation that is outside a predetermined acceptable angle.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising:
calculating a specific range (SR) of the aircraft based on the data points of the second reduced-size data set;
identifying, from the aircraft component operation information of the data points of the first reduced-size data, control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and identifying a respective amount of deviation of each of the identified control surfaces;
calculating a change in specific range (ASR) of the aircraft relative to a like aircraft without out-of-tolerance control surfaces based on the identified control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and the identified respective amounts of deviation of the identified control surfaces;
supplying as an output the calculated ASR.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the step of calculating a change in specific range (ASR) comprises obtaining published data regarding fuel usage of the like aircraft without out-of-tolerance control surfaces; and calculating the ASR based on the published data and the calculated SR of the aircraft.

### Claim 20 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the step of calculating a change in specific range (ASR) comprises conducting computational fluid dynamics simulations to quantify drag reductions that may be realized by re-rigging or fixing of the out-of-tolerance control surfaces.

### Claim 21 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, comprising supplying output data identifying the identified control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and the identified respective amounts of deviation of the identified control surfaces to enable repair of the control surfaces of the aircraft in accordance with the supplied data.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, comprising re-rigging the identified control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance in accordance with the supplied output data.

### Claim 23 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising:
ascertaining a predicted change in drag as a result of a hypothetical retrofitting of the aircraft with a control surface based drag reduction technology;
forecasting a change in specific range (ASR) based on the ascertained predicted change in drag and the second reduced-size data set, the ASR representing an improvement in fuel efficiency if the aircraft is retrofitted with the drag reduction technology.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23, wherein the drag reduction technology comprises a plurality of finlets capable of being attached to the aircraft at predetermined locations.

### Claim 25

A computerized system of evaluating performance of an aircraft, comprising: a computer having at least one processor;
a non-transient memory storing a plurality of computer instructions;
the processor of the computer, when executing the plurality of computer instructions stored in the non-transient memory, causes the computer to:
receive flight data regarding flights taken by an aircraft over a period of time, the flight data representing data recorded by one or more onboard flight data recorders during said period of time, the flight data including a plurality of data points, each of said data points identifying a plurality of flight parameters and aircraft component operation information at respectively different moments in time of flight by the aircraft, the aircraft component operation information including data regarding settings of control surfaces of the aircraft;
analyze the flight data to identify the data points that include at least one flight parameter that represents a non-cruise condition;
filter the flight data to remove the identified data points to produce a first reduced-size data set that includes only data points that represent a stable cruise condition;
analyze the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance;
filter the first reduced-size data set to remove the data points identified as including at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance to produce a second reduced-size data set;
analyze the first and second reduced-size data sets to ascertain a fuel efficiency that would be gained if the control surfaces of the aircraft that are out-of-tolerance are re-rigged to be in-tolerance;
supply as an output data identifying at least the ascertained fuel efficiency; and
identify one or more of the control surfaces of the aircraft for rerigging.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the received flight data comprises flight data regarding flights taken by the aircraft over a period of at least three months.

### Claim 27 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein each of the data points in the received flight data includes data identifying at least Mach, pressure altitude, total air temperature, ground speed, latitude, drift angle, angle of attack, pitch angle, and roll angle.

### Claim 28 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the received flight data is raw data recorded by said one or more flight data recorders.

### Claim 29 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the plurality of data points in the received flight data correspond to data stored approximately every four seconds by the one or more flight data recorders during flight by the aircraft over said period of time.

### Claim 30 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to generate from the received flight data derived parameters and to add the derived parameters for each of the data points to the flight data, the derived parameters including at least estimates of lift and drag, specific range, and engine health quality.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

The system of claim 30, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points with at least one derived parameter that represents a non-cruise condition.

### Claim 32 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that include a Mach number that is less than 0.40.

### Claim 33 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that include a pressure altitude that is less than 12,000 ft.

### Claim 34 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that represent a non-cruise condition based on parameters relating to speed, altitude and attitude.

### Claim 35 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a mean acceleration that exceeds ±1 knot/min or represent altitude variations that exceed ±50 ft/min.

### Claim 36 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a mean drift angle that is not in the range of 0±5 degrees or represent a mean roll attitude that is not in the range of 0±2 degrees.

### Claim 37 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, represent a Mach variation (Maximum Mach−Minimum Mach) that are not less than 0.005.

### Claim 38 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the flight data to identify the data points that, over a minute interval, do not represent a stable cruise condition.

### Claim 39 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that indicate that either a left or a right aileron of the aircraft is outside a range of −1 degree to +1 degree.

### Claim 40 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that correspond to a mean spoiler deflection that is outside a range of −0.2° to +0.6°.

### Claim 41 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to analyze the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include aircraft component operation information that correspond to a rudder deviation that is outside a predetermined acceptable angle.

### Claim 42 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to: calculate a specific range (SR) of the aircraft based on the data points of the second reduced-size data set;
identify, from the aircraft component operation information of the data points of the first reduced-size data, control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and identify a
respective amount of deviation of each of the identified control surfaces;
calculate a change in specific range (ASR) of the aircraft relative to a like aircraft without out-of-tolerance control surfaces based on the identified control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and the identified respective amounts of deviation of the identified control surfaces;
supply as an output the calculated ASR.

### Claim 43 (depends on 42)

The system of claim 42, wherein the processor causes the computer to access published data regarding fuel usage of the like aircraft without out-of-tolerance control surfaces; and to calculate the ASR based on the published data and the calculated SR of the aircraft.

### Claim 44 (depends on 42)

The system of claim 42, wherein the processor causes the computer to conduct computational fluid dynamics simulations to quantify drag reductions that may be realized by re-rigging or fixing of the out-of-tolerance control surfaces.

### Claim 45 (depends on 42)

The system of claim 42, wherein the processor causes the computer to supply output data identifying the identified control surfaces that are out-of-tolerance and the identified respective amounts of deviation of the identified control surfaces to enable repair of the control surfaces of the aircraft in accordance with the supplied data.

### Claim 46 (depends on 25)

The system of claim 25, wherein the processor causes the computer to:
ascertain a predicted change in drag as a result of a hypothetical retrofitting of the aircraft with a control surface based drag reduction technology;
forecast a change in specific range (ASR) based on the ascertained predicted change in drag and the second reduced-size data set, the ASR representing an improvement in fuel efficiency if the aircraft is retrofitted with the drag reduction technology.

### Claim 47 (depends on 46)

The system of claim 46, wherein the drag reduction technology is a plurality of finlets capable of being attached to the aircraft at predetermined locations.

### Claim 48

A computerized system of evaluating performance of an aircraft, comprising: a computer having at least one processor;
a non-transient memory storing a plurality of computer instructions;
the processor of the computer, when executing the plurality of computer instructions stored in the non-transient memory, causes the computer to:
receive flight data regarding flights taken by an aircraft over a period of time, the flight data representing data recorded by one or more onboard flight data recorders during said period of time, the flight data including a plurality of data points, each of said data points identifying a plurality of flight parameters and aircraft component operation information at respectively different moments in time of flight by the aircraft, the aircraft component operation information including at least data regarding settings of control surfaces of the aircraft;
analyze the flight data to identify the data points that include at least one flight parameter that represents a non-cruise condition;
filter the flight data to remove the identified data points to produce a first reduced-size data set that includes only data points that represent a stable cruise condition;
analyze the first reduced-size data to identify the data points that include at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance;
filter the first reduced-size data set to remove the data points identified as including at least one aircraft component operation information that represents a control surface that is out-of-tolerance to produce a second reduced-size data set;
analyze the second reduced-size data set to ascertain a fuel efficiency of the aircraft during the stable cruise condition; and
supply as an output data identifying at least the ascertained fuel efficiency; and
identify one or more of the control surfaces of the aircraft for rerigging.