Aircraft ground support unit with autonomy evaluation

An aircraft ground support unit (GSU) for supplying a specific service according to a specific set of service parameters to an aircraft (2) on the ground and consuming a specific service energy for supplying the specific service as a whole in a given available service duration, the GSU comprising:

• a rechargeable energy storage unit (3) (RESU) which, when fully charged, is configured for autonomously delivering the specific service energy required for supplying the specific service in the given available service duration,
• an energy sensor (4) configured for measuring an instantaneous state of energy parameters of the RESU,
• a control unit (5) configured for,
• identifying the aircraft (2),
• accessing a database (6) comprising:
• a list of aircraft types,
• sets of service parameters of corresponding services to be supplied to each of the aircraft types,
• identifying in the database the specific set of service parameters of the specific service to the thus identified aircraft,
• establishing with the control unit (5) a specific service energy budget estimate defined as a total amount of energy required by the GSU for supplying the service as a whole and in the given available service duration to the aircraft corresponding to the specific set of service parameters by any one of the following:
• the database comprises the specific service energy budget estimate for the specific set of service parameters, and the specific service energy budget is extracted from the database, or
• the database comprises a generic service energy budget estimate for the specific set of service parameters, the generic service energy budget estimate is extracted from the database, and the specific service energy budget estimate is calculated therefrom, or
• calculating the specific service energy budget estimate from the set of service parameters and from the thus identified aircraft,
• accessing the instantaneous state of the energy variables of the RESU measured with the energy sensor (4),
• determining with an energy indicator an instantaneous charge level of the RESU based on the instantaneous state of the energy variables,
• characterized in that, the control unit (5) is further configured for,
• comparing the specific service energy budget estimate with the instantaneous charge level of the RESU, and for
• generating from the control unit (5) an output signal representative of a capacity of the RESU to deliver the specific service energy budget estimate as a function of the instantaneous charge level of the RESU.