Methods and systems facilitating stabilized descent to a diversion airport

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10134289-B2
Application number	US-201615047355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2016
Priority date	Feb 18, 2016
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for guiding or otherwise assisting operation of a vehicle to intersect a stabilized approach to a destination. One exemplary method of assisting an aircraft for landing at an airport involves obtaining, from a system onboard the aircraft, a current position of the aircraft and a current velocity of the aircraft, determining a descent strategy for the aircraft from the current position to an initialization point for a stable approach to the airport based at least in part on the current position and the current velocity, and providing indication of the descent strategy on a display device. The descent strategy is determined based on one or more validation criteria associated with the initialization point so that one or more predicted values for one or more characteristics of the aircraft satisfy the one or more validation criteria at the initialization point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of assisting an aircraft for landing at an airport, the method comprising:
determining a flap extension point for an approach to the airport based at least in part on a decision point proximate the airport and one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more stabilization criteria including at least one of a maximum airspeed limit and a maximum descent rate limit;
determining one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point based on the one or more stabilization criteria, wherein the one or more validation criteria include at least one of a minimum airspeed at the flap extension point and a maximum airspeed at the flap extension point;
obtaining, from a system onboard the aircraft, a current position of the aircraft and a current velocity of the aircraft;
determining a descent strategy for the aircraft from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point, wherein the descent strategy comprises one or more actions to decrease an energy level of the aircraft to satisfy the one or more validation criteria upon reaching the flap extension point; and
providing graphical indication of the one or more actions of the descent strategy on a display device at respective points along a route from the current position to the airport.

2. The method of claim 1 , the one or more validation criteria comprising airspeed limits for the flap extension point, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises determining the descent strategy resulting in a predicted airspeed for the aircraft at the flap extension point that satisfies the airspeed limits based at least in part on the current position and the current velocity.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
determining the descent strategy comprises determining a plurality of segments along the route to the airport, each segment of the plurality of segments having an associated descent rate and an associated aircraft configuration; and
providing the graphical indication comprises providing indicia of the associated descent rate and the associated aircraft configuration proximate a respective point on the route corresponding to the respective segment of the plurality of segments.

4. The method of claim 1 , the one or more actions including an aircraft configuration for a portion of a route from the current position to the airport, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying symbology indicative of the aircraft configuration proximate the portion of the route.

5. The method of claim 4 , the descent strategy including a descent rate for the portion of the route, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying the descent rate proximate the symbology.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining meteorological information corresponding to the airport; and
obtaining a flight model for the aircraft, wherein determining the flap extension point comprises determining the flap extension point based on the meteorological information, the flight model, and the one or more stabilization criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a circling pattern for the aircraft to reduce the energy level of the aircraft in conjunction with the descent strategy; and
providing additional indication of the circling pattern on the display device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the descent strategy comprises:
determining a plurality of potential descent strategies from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point; and
identifying the descent strategy as a potential descent strategy having a minimum flight time among the plurality of potential descent strategies.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the descent strategy comprises:
determining a plurality of potential descent strategies from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point;
scoring each potential descent strategy of the plurality of potential descent strategies by weighting characteristics of the respective potential descent strategy with weighting factors assigned to the respective characteristics; and
identifying the descent strategy as an optimal descent strategy of the plurality of potential descent strategies based on the scoring.

10. A system comprising:
a display device having a map associated with an aircraft displayed thereon, the map including a graphical representation of the aircraft, a graphical representation of an airport, and a graphical representation of a route from a current position of the aircraft to the airport; and
a processing system coupled to the display device to:
determine a flap extension point for an approach to the airport based at least in part on a decision point proximate the airport and one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more stabilization criteria including at least one of a maximum airspeed limit and a maximum descent rate limit;
determine one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point based on the one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more validation criteria include at least one of a minimum airspeed at the flap extension point and a maximum airspeed at the flap extension point;
determine a current energy level associated with the aircraft;
determine a descent strategy for navigating the aircraft from the current position to the flap extension point for the approach to the airport based at least in part on the current energy level, the current position, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point, wherein the descent strategy comprises one or more actions to decrease an energy level of the aircraft to satisfy the one or more validation criteria upon reaching the flap extension point; and
provide graphical indication of the one or more actions of the descent strategy on the map at respective points the route from the current position to the airport.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the strategy comprises a plurality of segments along the route;
each segment of the plurality of segments has a travel rate and a configuration associated therewith; and
the indication comprises graphical indicia of the travel rate and the configuration for each segment of the plurality of segments at respective locations along the route corresponding to the respective segments.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the travel rate comprises a descent rate.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a meteorological system coupled to the processing system to provide meteorological information corresponding to the airport, wherein the processing system determines the flap extension point based at least in part on the meteorological information and one or more stabilization criteria for the approach.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a data storage element maintaining a model of the aircraft, wherein the processing system is coupled to the data storage element to obtain the model and determine the flap extension point based on the meteorological information, the model, and the one or more stabilization criteria.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processing system determines a plurality o

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Moravek Zdenek
• Sosovicka Robert
• Magula Filip
• Kunes David
• Sprinarova Katerina
• Lacko Ivan

Classifications

• B64C9/38

  Jet flaps · CPC title

• G08G5/0039

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0013

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0091

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D1/0676

  specially adapted for landing · CPC title