System and method for determining aircraft operational parameters and enhancing aircraft operation

A system for identifying variations in aircraft operational parameters, comprising:

• a storage device configured to store a previously recorded four-dimensional (4D) aircraft trajectory for a flight along a defined route;
• control circuitry communicatively coupled to the storage device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine an aircraft intent corresponding to the previously recorded 4D aircraft trajectory along the defined route based at least in part on an aircraft performance model from a trajectory predictor, the aircraft intent comprises a plurality of segments and a corresponding plurality of intent parameters, the control circuitry is configured to adjust the plurality of intent parameters from a set of initial estimates such that a newly computed 4D trajectory substantially corresponds to the 4D aircraft trajectory, the newly computed 4D trajectory is determined based at least in part on the derived aircraft intent, the adjusted plurality of intent parameters, and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor, the control circuitry is configured to determine a computed operational parameter based at least in part on the newly computed 4D trajectory and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor, and the control circuitry is configured to identify variations between the computed operational parameter and a corresponding measured operational parameter from the previously recorded 4D trajectory;
• and
• an interface communicatively coupled to the control circuitry, wherein the interface is configured to present the variations to an operator of the system.

A method for enhancing aircraft operational parameters, comprising:

• determining an aircraft intent corresponding to a flight along a defined route based at least in part on a plurality of four-dimensional (4D) aircraft trajectories from a corresponding plurality of previous flights along the defined route and an aircraft performance model from a trajectory predictor, wherein the aircraft intent comprises a plurality of segments and a corresponding plurality of intent parameters;
• determining a first computed 4D trajectory based at least in part on the aircraft intent and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor,
• determining a first computed operational parameter based at least in part on the first computed 4D trajectory and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor;
• and
• iteratively adjusting at least one intent parameter such that a second computed operational parameter of a second computed 4D trajectory has a more desirable value than the first computed operational parameter of the first computed 4D trajectory, wherein the second computed 4D trajectory is determined based at least in part on the aircraft intent, the at least one intent parameter, and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor, and the second computed operational parameter is determined based at least in part on the second computed 4D trajectory and the aircraft performance model from the trajectory predictor.