Managing flight paths of a soaring aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016155338-A1
Application number	US-201314133756-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 19, 2013
Priority date	Dec 19, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a novel system and method for adjusting a flight path of an aircraft. The method begins with computing a flight path of an aircraft from a starting point to an ending point which incorporates predicted weather effects at different points in space and time. An iterative loop is entered for the flight path. Each of the following steps are performed in the iterative loop. First lift data is accessed from a fine-grain weather model associated with a geographic region of interest. The lift data is data to calculate a force that directly opposes a weight of the aircraft. In addition, lift data is accessed from sensors coupled to the aircraft. The lift data is one or more of 1) thermal data, 2) ridge lift data, 3) wave lift data, 3) convergence lift data, and 4) a dynamic soaring lift data. Numerous embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for adjusting a flight path of an aircraft, the method comprising:
computing a flight path of an aircraft from a starting point to an ending point which incorporates predicted weather effects at different points in space and time; during a flight path performing each of:
accessing lift data from a fine-grained weather model associated with a geographic region of interest, the lift data being data to calculate a force that directly opposes a weight of the aircraft;
accessing lift data from sensors coupled to the aircraft;
computing adjustments to the flight path based on a combination of the lift data from the fine-grain weather model and the lift data from sensors; and
adjusting the flight path using the adjustments that have been computed.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the lift data includes at least one of thermal lift, ridge lift, wave lift, convergence lift, and a dynamic soaring lift.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the flight path based on a combination of the lift data from the fine-grained weather model and the lift data from sensors further includes using lift data from crowdsourcing data.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the flight path as it is adjusted to a second aircraft.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving adjustments to the flight path from the second aircraft in order to avoid collisions therewith.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the computing adjustments to the flight path is performed on a second aircraft.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the computing adjustments to the flight path is performed by a second aircraft.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft is unpowered.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft is powered by one or more engines.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of
computing a flight path of an aircraft from the starting point to the ending point, and adjusting the flight path using the adjustments that have been computed,
includes using a portion of the flight path that have previously computed

11 . An aircraft flight pass processor system comprising:
a memory; a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, where the processor is configured to perform computing a flight path of an aircraft from a starting point to an ending point which incorporates predicted weather effects at different points in space and time; during a flight path performing each of:
accessing lift data from a fine-grain weather model associated with a geographic region of interest, the lift data being data to calculate a force that directly opposes a weight of the aircraft;
accessing lift data from sensors coupled to the aircraft;
computing adjustments to the flight path based on a combination of the lift data from the fine-grain weather model and the lift data from sensors; and
adjusting the flight path using the adjustments that have been computed.

12 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein the lift data includes at least one of thermal lift, ridge lift, wave lift, convergence lift, and a dynamic soaring lift.

13 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein the adjusting the flight path based on a combination of the lift data from the fine-grained weather model and the lift data from sensors further includes using lift data from crowdsourcing data.

14 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , further comprising:
sending the flight path as it is adjusted to a second aircraft.

15 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving adjustments to the flight path from the second aircraft in order to avoid collisions therewith.

16 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein the computing adjustments to the flight path is performed on a second aircraft.

17 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion of the computing adjustments to the flight path is performed by a second aircraft.

18 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein the aircraft is powered by one or more engines.

19 . The aircraft flight path processor system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of
computing a flight path of an aircraft from the starting point to the ending point, and adjusting the flight path using the adjustments that have been computed,
includes using a portion of the flight path that have previously computed

20 . A computer program product for adjusting flight path of an aircraft, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable on processor to perform:
computing a flight path of an aircraft from a starting point to an ending point which incorporates predicted weather effects at different points in space and time; during a flight path performing each of:
accessing lift data from a fine-grain weather model associated with a geographic region of interest, the lift data being data to calculate a force that directly opposes a weight of the aircraft;
accessing lift data from sensors coupled to the aircraft;
computing adjustments to the flight path based on a combination of the lift data from the fine-grain weather model and the lift data from sensors; and
adjusting the flight path using the adjustments that have been computed.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Lynar Timothy M
• Smith Olivia J
• Wagner John M

Classifications

• G08G5/80

  Anti-collision systems · CPC title

• G08G5/76

  for monitoring atmospheric conditions · CPC title

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/53

  for cruising · CPC title

• G08G5/26

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title