Decision-making aid for revising a flight plan

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018075758-A1
Application number	US-201715700156-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 10, 2017
Priority date	Sep 13, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method is provided for managing the revising of a flight plan of an aircraft implemented by at least two systems, one being of avionics type (qualified, certified) and the other not. From a flight plan, flight plan revisions are determined, even assessed, then one or more of these revisions are selected and/or combined. Subsequently, these combinations are processed by the avionics system and the corresponding avionics parameters are calculated. By comparing the different results of avionics quality, the impact of each revision can be quantified then rendered to the pilot to assist in his or her decision-making, in particular with regard to negotiating the revisions with air traffic control. Combinatorial optimization and learning steps are described, as are system and software aspects.

First claim

1 . A method for managing the revising of a flight plan of an aircraft implemented by at least two systems, the first system being a flight management avionics system of F.M.S. type and the second system interacting with the first avionics system being of non-avionics type, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a flight plan; in the second, non-avionics system, determining a plurality of revisions of the flight plan received; in the first, avionics system, determining the avionics parameters corresponding to the revised flight plans associated with combinations of the revisions having been determined; in the second, non-avionics system, comparing the duly determined avionics parameters and assessing the impact of at least one revision of the flight plan.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , the combination of revisions being determined as a function of predefined criteria.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , the combination of revisions minimizing the negotiation time with the air traffic control ATC authority, said time being estimated from times measured in the past or being estimated for the future.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step consisting in quantifying and displaying the impact of a revision of the flight plan.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step consisting in receiving the selection of one revised flight plan out of several, the revised flight plan comprising a particular combination of revisions.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step consisting in communicating to air traffic control ATC a request to authorize flying a flight plan associated with a particular combination of revisions.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step consisting in inserting the selected and/or authorized flight plan into the flight management avionics system.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , a flight plan being associated with N constraints, the method further comprising the step consisting in determining, in the first, avionics system, the avionics parameters associated with different combinations of the flight plans with N-k constraints, k varying from 1 to N−1.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , the number of constraints of the flight plans being progressively decremented, the nature of a subtracted constraint being immaterial.

10 . The method according to claim 8 , the number of constraints of the flight plans being progressively decremented, in a predefined order as to the nature of the constraints.

11 . The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step consisting in assessing the impact of a previously selected constraint.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , the revisions or the combinations of the revisions of the flight plan being a function of the flight context and/or being determined by learning.

13 . A computer program product, said computer program comprising code instructions making it possible to perform the steps of the method according to claim 1 , when said program is run on a computer.

14 . A system for implementing the steps of the method according to claim 1 , comprising a flight management system of avionics type F.M.S.

15 . The system according to claim 14 , comprising a non-avionics system of electronic flight bag or E.F.B. type, or a digital tablet or an AOC/ATC equipment item.

Assignees

• Thales Sa

Inventors

• Martinez Dorian
• Bies Emilie

Classifications

• G06Q10/06375 Primary

  Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change · CPC title

• G06Q10/04

  Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" (market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202) · CPC title

• G01C23/00

  Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration · CPC title

• G01C21/20

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title

• G08G5/0039 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic