Methods and systems for assigning procedures to flight records

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020294405-A1
Application number	US-201916299399-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 12, 2019
Priority date	Mar 12, 2019
Publication date	Sep 17, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for analyzing flight records to assign procedures to the flight records. One method involves identifying a set of procedures for potential association with a flight record based at least in part on a runway associated with the flight record, identifying a probable procedure from among the set of procedures based on a relationship between a trajectory associated with the probable procedure and flight data associated with the flight record, and updating the flight record to maintain an association with the probable procedure. The flown trajectory represented by the flight data is mapped to the procedure trajectories to identify the probable procedure executed during the flight associated with the flight record based on the relative adherence of the flown trajectory to the procedural legs that constitute the procedure trajectory.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for analyzing a flight record for a flight completed by an aircraft, by a computing device comprising at least one processor and a data storage element, the method comprising:
obtaining aircraft position data defining an aircraft trajectory for the flight completed by the aircraft, by the at least one processor, wherein the flight record maintains the aircraft position data in association with identification of an airport and a runway associated with the flight; performing an analysis of the aircraft position data, by the at least one processor, by:
accessing a database comprising at least a potential procedure applicable to the airport and the runway, the potential procedure comprising a set of instructions directing aircraft use of a set of legs;
analyzing the aircraft trajectory and the potential procedure to identify a realization of the set of instructions;
when the aircraft position data indicates a realization of the set of instructions, determining that the aircraft trajectory includes the potential procedure;
identifying a procedure flown by the aircraft during the flight, based on the analysis, wherein the procedure comprises the potential procedure; and updating the flight record to store the procedure in the data storage element in association with the flight record.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
analyzing the aircraft trajectory and the potential procedure, by:
mapping recovery fix waypoints to points on the aircraft trajectory, wherein each of the recovery fix waypoints are located within a predetermined threshold of one of the points on the aircraft trajectory;
identifying groups of the set of legs bounded by pairs of the recovery fix waypoints;
for one of the groups bounded by one of the pairs comprising a first recovery fix waypoint and a second recovery fix waypoint:
determine whether conditions of the procedure are met by the one of the groups bounded by the one of the pairs;
when the conditions are met, determine that the one of the groups was flown by the aircraft during the flight, identify an endpoint of the one of the groups as a beginning point of a second one of the groups bounded by a second one of the pairs, and proceed to evaluate the second one;
when a subset of the conditions are met, determine that the one of the groups was partially flown by the aircraft during the flight; and
when none of the conditions are met, determine that the one of the groups was not flown by the aircraft during the flight, determine that the endpoint is not defined, define the second recovery fix waypoint as the beginning point of the second one of the groups, and proceed to evaluate the second one.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the aircraft trajectory and the potential procedure to identify the realization of the set of instructions comprises:
mapping the aircraft trajectory to a reference trajectory defined by the set of legs; and the aircraft position data indicates the realization of the set of instructions when the aircraft trajectory is maintained within a threshold of one or more of the set of legs.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining an adherence metric for the potential procedure based on the one or more of the set of legs where the aircraft trajectory is maintained within the threshold, wherein identifying the procedure comprises identifying the potential procedure as having been flown by the aircraft during the flight based on the adherence metric.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
the aircraft position data comprise one or more of latitude positions for the aircraft, longitude positions for the aircraft, altitude values for the aircraft, and heading data for the aircraft; the aircraft trajectory indicates speed values for the aircraft based on aircraft position changes; and the potential procedure comprises a departure procedure or an arrival procedure.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising identifying one or more preferred procedures for use by the aircraft, by the at least one processor, wherein the one or more preferred procedures comprise at least the procedure.

7 . A computer-implemented method of analyzing a travel record, the method comprising:
identifying a set of procedures for potential association with the travel record; identifying a probable procedure from among the set of procedures based on a relationship between a trajectory associated with the probable procedure and position data associated with the travel record; and updating the travel record to maintain an association with the probable procedure.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying the probable procedure comprises:
determining, for each procedure of the set of procedures, a respective adherence metric value based on a relationship between a respective trajectory defined by the respective procedure and the position data associated with the travel record; and selecting the probable procedure from among the set of procedures based on the respective adherence metric value associated with the probable procedure relative to other procedures of the set of procedures.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising ranking the set of procedures according to the respective adherence metric values, wherein selecting the probable procedure comprises identifying a highest ranked procedure in the ranked set of procedures.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the respective adherence metric value comprises determining a respective number of legs associated with the respective procedure were executed by a vehicle based on a relationship between the respective trajectory defined by the legs associated with the respective procedure and a trajectory corresponding to the position data associated with the travel record.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the respective number of legs that were executed comprises, for each leg associated with the respective procedure where the trajectory is maintained within a threshold of the respective trajectory defined by the respective leg, identifying the respective leg as having been executed by the vehicle.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
defining a plurality of recovery fixes for the respective procedure based on the relationship between the trajectory and respective navigational reference points associated with the respective procedure; and when the trajectory deviates from the respective trajectory defined by the respective leg by more than the threshold:
designating the respective leg as not having been executed by the vehicle; and
advancing analysis of the legs associated with the respective procedure to a next recovery fix of the plurality of recovery fixes.

13 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining a performance metric associated with the probable procedure based on the position data associated with the travel record.

14 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising evaluating a trajectory corresponding to the position data associated with the travel record with respect to a respective reference trajectory defined by procedural legs of each respective procedure of the set of procedures to determine a respective adherence metric associated with each respective procedure of the set of procedures based on a relationship between the trajectory and the procedural legs, wherein identifying the probable procedure comprises identifying the probable procedure based on the respective adherence metric.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the adherence metric comprises a nu

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Foltan Stanislav
• Gentile Federico
• Molnar Karol

Classifications

• G08G5/70

  Arrangements for monitoring traffic-related situations or conditions · CPC title

• G08G5/26

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

• G08G5/30

  Flight plan management · CPC title

• G08G5/34 Primary

  for flight plan modification · CPC title

• G08G5/22 Primary

  located on the ground · CPC title