Vehicle decision support system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10089886-B2
Application number	US-201615014609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 3, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2016
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle decision support system and method capable of processing operational constraints, a flight plan, and appropriate environmental data to generate timely and readily comprehensible guidance are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing decision support for an aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving a flight plan;
receiving vehicle data from a standard operating procedures (SOP) database, a maintenance log database, and a minimum equipment list database, the vehicle data comprising, for the aircraft, a constraint, the constraint defined as a limit on at least one of (i) current performance, and (ii) predicted performance;
receiving, from a third party data source, third party data comprising environmental data; and
processing the flight plan, the vehicle data, and the third party data to determine,
(a) whether there is a constraint violation, defined as an anomaly, along the flight plan, and
(b) when it is determined that there is an anomaly along the flight plan,
(i) determining where the anomaly is along the flight plan; and
(ii) generating a guidance report characterizing the anomaly by constraint type, an affected subsystem, and a predicted spatial location of relevance; and

when an anomaly is not predicted, generating an indication of conformance; and repeating the step of processing when the constraint changes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle data further comprises at least one of: current fuel on-board, model of the aircraft, and tail number of the aircraft.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising, when an anomaly is predicted, delegating at least some processing to a remote device.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising displaying the guidance report on a display unit in the aircraft when an anomaly is predicted.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the guidance report associates the anomaly with a respective strategic alternate solution.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the guidance report associates the anomaly with a respective tactical instruction.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising receiving a modification to at least one of (i) the flight plan and (ii) the vehicle data.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising repeating the steps of processing and generating in response to receiving the modification.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the guidance report associates the anomaly with at least one of (i) a respective strategic alternate solution and (ii) a respective tactical instruction; and further comprising categorizing the anomaly selectively from among: a threat, a safety concern, and a fuel concern.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising overlaying a symbol representative of the categorized anomaly on at least one of a lateral map and a vertical map.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising rendering the symbol representative of the categorized anomaly in a first visually distinguishable form if the anomaly affects safety, and rendering the symbol representative of the categorized anomaly in a second visually distinguishable form if the anomaly does not affect safety.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a user selection of the anomaly; and
in response to receiving the user selection of the anomaly, displaying additional information associated with (i) the anomaly and (ii) the respective strategic alternate solution.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a user selection of the anomaly; and
in response to receiving the user selection of the anomaly, generating additional information associated with (i) the anomaly and (ii) the respective tactical instruction.

14. A system for providing decision support for a vehicle, the system comprising:
a memory device; and
a processor coupled to the memory device and configured to
receive, from a remote device, a travel plan;
receive vehicle data from one of: a standard operating procedures (SOP) database, a maintenance log database, and a minimum equipment list database, the vehicle data comprising a constraint, the constraint defined as a limit on at least one of (i) current performance, and (ii) predicted performance;
receive, from a third party data source, third party data comprising environmental data;
process the travel plan, the third party data, and the vehicle data, to determine,
(a) whether there is a constraint violation, defined as an anomaly, along the flight travel plan, and
(b) when it is determined that there is an anomaly along the flight travel plan,
(i) determine where the anomaly is along the flight travel plan; and

(ii) generate a guidance report when an anomaly is predicted, the guidance report characterizing the anomaly by constraint type, an affected subsystem, and a predicted spatial location of relevance; and
generate an indication of conformance when an anomaly is not predicted.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to delegate at least some of the processing to the remote device when an anomaly is predicted.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein, if an anomaly is predicted, the processor is further configured to display on a display unit in the vehicle, (a) the guidance report comprising alphanumeric information associating the anomaly with at least one of (i) a respective strategic alternate solution and (ii) a respective tactical instruction, and (b) transmit the guidance report to the remote device.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive a modification to at least one of (i) the travel plan and (ii) the vehicle data.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to repeat the steps of processing and generating in response to receiving the modification.

19. A vehicle comprising:
a memory device; and
a processor coupled to the memory device and configured to
receive a travel plan comprising a route;
receive vehicle data comprising at least one of: standard operating procedures (SOP), a minimum equipment list (MEL), a maintenance log, current fuel level the vehicle data comprising a constraint, the constraint defined as a limit on at least one of (i) current performance, and (ii) predicted performance;
receive environmental data;
process the vehicle data, travel plan, and environmental data with stored rule sets associated with constraints to determine
(a) whether there is a constraint violation, defined as an anomaly, along the flight travel plan, and
(b) when it is determined that there is an anomaly along the flight travel plan,
(i) determine where the anomaly is along the flight travel plan; and
(ii) generate a guidance report characterizing the anomaly when an anomaly is predicted; and

generate an indication of conformance when an anomaly is not predicted.

20. The vehicle of claim 19 , further comprising a remote device, and wherein:
the processor is further configured to synchronize vehicle systems with the remote device prior to processing the vehicle data, travel plan, and environmental data with stored rule sets associated with constraints to determine whether an anomaly is predicted; and

transmit, to the remote device, one of the indication of conformance and the guidance report.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Kawalkar Amit Nishikant
• Mohan Rajeev
• Varshney Piyush
• Hebbar Sudhir

Classifications

• G08G5/0039 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0021

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0034

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0013

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/32

  for flight plan preparation · CPC title