Aircraft flight path noise reduction

A computing system, comprising:

• a logic subsystem;
• and
• a storage subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to:
• receive, for a plurality of waypoints in a geographic area, predicted aircraft noise levels for an aircraft at the plurality of waypoints in which a predicted aircraft noise level for each waypoint is predicted based at least in part on a plurality of flight parameters for the aircraft passing through the waypoint;
• input the predicted aircraft noise levels to a flight path prediction system configured to generate a candidate flight path for the aircraft through the geographic area based at least in part on the predicted aircraft noise levels, wherein the flight path prediction system generates the candidate flight path by:
• calculating, for each grid cell of a plurality of grid cells of a virtual grid overlaid on the geographic area, a grid-relative predicted noise level, wherein, for at least one grid cell of the plurality of grid cells, the grid-relative predicted noise level is interpolated from two or more predicted aircraft noise levels of two or more of the plurality of waypoints falling within the grid cell;
• selecting an initial grid cell of the plurality of grid cells as a starting point of the candidate flight path;
• and
• iteratively selecting one or more subsequent grid cells of the plurality of grid cells as extensions of the candidate flight path from the initial grid cell by, on each of one or more iterations:
• identifying a set of candidate grid cells from among the plurality of grid cells, and
• selecting a next grid cell from among the set of candidate grid cells as an extension of the candidate flight path based on the grid-relative predicted noise levels of the set of candidate grid cells and further based on whether the set of candidate grid cells satisfy one or more route constraints;
• and
• output the candidate flight path generated by the flight path prediction system to a flight system configured to fly the aircraft along the candidate flight path.

A method for aircraft flight path generation, the method comprising:

• at a computing system, receiving, for a plurality of waypoints in a geographic area, predicted aircraft noise levels for an aircraft at the plurality of waypoints in which a predicted aircraft noise level for each waypoint is predicted based at least in part on a plurality of flight parameters for the aircraft passing through the waypoint, the predicted aircraft noise levels predicted by a machine learning model trained based at least in part on historical measured noise levels and historical flight parameters for a plurality of prior aircraft flights;
• inputting the predicted aircraft noise levels to a flight path prediction system configured to generate a candidate flight path for the aircraft through the geographic area based at least in part on the predicted aircraft noise levels, wherein the flight path prediction system generates the candidate flight path by:
• calculating, for each grid cell of a plurality of grid cells of a virtual grid overlaid on the geographic area, a grid-relative predicted noise level, wherein, for at least one grid cell of the plurality of grid cells, the grid-relative predicted noise level is interpolated from two or more predicted aircraft noise levels of two or more of the plurality of waypoints falling within the grid cell;
• selecting an initial grid cell of the plurality of grid cells as a starting point of the candidate flight path;
• and
• iteratively selecting one or more subsequent grid cells of the plurality of grid cells as extensions of the candidate flight path from the initial grid cell by, on each of one or more iterations:
• identifying a set of candidate grid cells from among the plurality of grid cells, and
• selecting a next grid cell from among the set of candidate grid cells as an extension of the candidate flight path based on the grid-relative predicted noise levels of the set of candidate grid cells and further based on whether the set of candidate grid cells satisfy one or more route constraints;
• and
• outputting the candidate flight path generated by the flight path prediction system to a flight system configured to fly the aircraft along the candidate flight path.