Ground-based identification of wake turbulence encounters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10055998-B1
Application number	US-201715687139-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 25, 2017
Priority date	Aug 25, 2017
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A ground-based server is configured for identifying encounters of aircraft with wake turbulences generated by at least one other generating aircraft. The ground-based server is configured for: collecting avionics data for an in-flight aircraft and traffic data for one or more other aircraft in flight at a first flight time of the in-flight aircraft; determining that the in-flight aircraft was near a wake turbulence estimated, using the traffic data, to be generated by another aircraft; determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time a severe impact; determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time at least one of: one or more uncommanded forces and moments, and a wind signature indicative of wake turbulence; and in response, generating a report of a wake turbulence encounter for the in-flight aircraft at the first flight time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ground-based server for identifying a wake turbulence generated by at least one generating aircraft, the ground-based server comprising:
at least one processor and memory storing executable instructions for the at least one processor; and
a wake turbulence analyzer implemented on the at least one processor and memory and configured for:
collecting avionics data for an in-flight aircraft and traffic data for one or more other aircraft in flight at a first flight time of the in-flight aircraft;
determining that the in-flight aircraft was within a threshold distance of at least a first position of a wake turbulence estimated, using the traffic data, to be generated by a first other aircraft;
determining, after the first flight time and at the ground-based server, that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time an impact having a severity level exceeding a threshold;
determining, after the first flight time and at the ground-based server, that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time at least one of: one or more uncommanded forces and moments, and a wind signature indicative of wake turbulence; and
generating a report of a wake turbulence encounter for the in-flight aircraft at the first flight time in response to: determining that the in-flight aircraft was within the threshold distance, determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced the impact, and determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced at least one of the one or more uncommanded forces and moments and the wind signature.

2. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein the wake turbulence analyzer is configured for collecting additional avionics data for a fleet of aircraft over a window of time and additional traffic data for the window of time and generating a plurality of wake turbulence reports for the fleet of aircraft over the window of time.

3. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein collecting avionics data for the in-flight aircraft comprises communicating with an on-board avionics computer system of the in-flight aircraft during or after the first flight time.

4. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein collecting the traffic data for the one or more other aircraft comprises communicating with an on-board avionics computer system of the in-flight aircraft during or after the first flight time, wherein the on-board avionics computer system is configured to record air-to-air data link messages from the one or more other aircraft when the other aircraft are within a vicinity of the in-flight aircraft.

5. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein collecting the traffic data for the one or more other aircraft comprises requesting the traffic data from an external data server.

6. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein determining that the in-flight aircraft was within the threshold distance of the first position of the wake turbulence comprises computing, using the traffic data, a central line of the wake turbulence of the first other aircraft and determining, using the central line, a volume in which the wake turbulences are likely to influence behavior of the in-flight aircraft.

7. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein determining that the in-flight aircraft was within a threshold distance of a wake turbulence comprises measuring the wake turbulence using a ground-based measurement system and determining a volume in which the wake turbulences are likely to influence the behavior of the in-flight aircraft.

8. The ground-based server of claim 1 , wherein determining the severity level comprises evaluating one or more of the following parameters against pre-determined values:
roll and pitch angles;
maximums of lateral and vertical load factors at a center of gravity of the in-flight aircraft or another specific place on the in-flight aircraft;
deviations with respect to an intended flight trajectory;
an aerodynamic envelope;
one or more structural loads;
maximums of external roll moments; and
maximums of roll control ratios.

9. A method for identifying a wake turbulence generated by at least one generating aircraft, the method comprising:
collecting, by a wake turbulence analyzer implemented on at least one processor of a ground-based server, avionics data for an in-flight aircraft and traffic data for one or more other aircraft in flight at a first flight time of the in-flight aircraft;
determining, by the wake turbulence analyzer using the avionics data, that the in-flight aircraft was within a threshold distance of at least a first position of a wake turbulence estimated, using the traffic data, to be generated by a first other aircraft;
determining, by the wake turbulence analyzer using the avionics data, and after the first flight time, that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time an impact having a severity level exceeding a threshold;
determining, by the wake turbulence analyzer using the avionics data, and after the first flight time, that the in-flight aircraft experienced at the first flight time at least one of: one or more uncommanded forces and moments, and a wind signature indicative of wake turbulence; and
generating, by the wake turbulence analyzer, a report of a wake turbulence encounter for the in-flight aircraft at the first flight time in response to: determining that the in-flight aircraft was within the threshold distance, determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced the impact, and determining that the in-flight aircraft experienced at least one of the one or more uncommanded forces and moments and the wind signature.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising collecting additional avionics data for a fleet of aircraft over a window of time and additional traffic data for the window of time and generating a plurality of wake turbulence reports for the fleet of aircraft over the window of time.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein collecting avionics data for the in-flight aircraft comprises communicating with an on-board avionics computer system of the in-flight aircraft during or after the first flight time.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein collecting the traffic data for the one or more other aircraft comprises communicating with an on-board avionics computer system of the in-flight aircraft during or after the first flight time, wherein the on-board avionics computer system is configured to record air-to-air data link messages from the one or more other aircraft when the other aircraft are within a vicinity of the in-flight aircraft.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein collecting the traffic data for the one or more other aircraft comprises requesting the traffic data from an external data server.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining that the in-flight aircraft was within the threshold distance the first position of the wake turbulence comprises computing, using the traffic data, a central line of the wake turbulence of the first other aircraft and determining, using the central line, a volume in which the wake turbulences are likely to influence the behavior of the in-flight aircraft.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining that the in-flight aircraft was within a threshold distance of a wake turbulence comprises measuring the wake turbulence using a ground-based measurement system and determining a volume in which the wake turbulences are likely to influence the behavior of the in-flight aircraft.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the severity level comprises evaluating one or more of the following parameters against pre-determined values:
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Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas
• Airbus Sas

Inventors

• Reinke Andreas
• Kauertz Sebastian

Classifications

• G01W2001/003

  Clear air turbulence detection or forecasting, e.g. for aircrafts · CPC title

• G01W2001/006

  Main server receiving weather information from several sub-stations · CPC title

• G08G5/0026

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0013 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/727

  from a ground station · CPC title