Aircraft de-icing determination systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021150488-A1
Application number	US-201916686265-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 18, 2019
Priority date	Nov 18, 2019
Publication date	May 20, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and a method include at least one control unit that determines a de-icing time for an aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport, predicts a de-icing time for an aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport, schedules de-icing times for a plurality of aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport, and/or predicts demand for future de-icing operations of aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
at least one first control unit that determines, based on tracked aircraft position data, a de-icing time for a first aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport; and at least one second control unit that determines, based on the de-icing time, a schedule for de-icing one or both of the first aircraft and a second aircraft.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a tracking sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, wherein the tracking sub-system tracks a position of the aircraft at the airport, and wherein the at least one first control unit determines the de-icing time for the aircraft based on the position of the aircraft in relation to the de-icing area.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the tracking sub-system is an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) tracking sub-system.

4 . The system of claim 2 , further comprising an airport mapping sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, wherein the at least one first control unit receives airport map data including a location of the de-icing area from the airport mapping sub-system.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first control unit determines the de-icing time by comparing an entry time of the aircraft into the de-icing location and an exit time of the aircraft from the de-icing location.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a weather determination sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, wherein the weather determination sub-system provides weather data indicative of current weather conditions in relation to the airport, and wherein the at least one first control unit associates weather conditions with the de-icing time.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a historic de-icing datastore in communication with the at least one first control unit, wherein the at least one first control unit stores de-icing data including the de-icing time for the aircraft within the at historic de-icing datastore.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the de-icing data further comprises weather data including weather conditions during the de-icing time.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the de-icing data further comprises aircraft data including aircraft type of the aircraft.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first control unit further predicts a de-icing time for at least one other aircraft within the de-icing area of the airport.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one first control unit comprises a de-icing prediction control unit.

12 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising a historic de-icing datastore in communication with the at least one first control unit, wherein the historic de-icing datastore stores historic de-icing data comprising de-icing times for a plurality of aircraft over a predetermined time period, and wherein the at least one first control unit predicts the de-icing time for the at least one other aircraft based on the historic de-icing data.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the historic de-icing data further comprises weather data including weather conditions during the de-icing times.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the historic de-icing data further comprises aircraft data including aircraft type of the plurality of aircraft.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first control unit further predicts demand for future de-icing operations based on historic de-icing data.

16 . A method comprising:
determining, by at least one first control unit, a de-icing time for a first aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport based on tracked aircraft position data; and determining, by at least one second control unit, a schedule for de-icing one or both of the first aircraft or a second aircraft based on the de-icing time.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
tracking, by a tracking sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, a position of the aircraft at the airport; determining, by the at least one first control unit, the de-icing time for the aircraft based on the position of the aircraft in relation to the de-icing area; and comprising receiving, by the at least one first control unit from an airport mapping sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, airport map data including a location of the de-icing area from the airport mapping sub-system.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said determining the de-icing time comprises comparing an entry time of the aircraft into the de-icing location and an exit time of the aircraft from the de-icing location.

19 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving, by the at least one first control unit from a weather determination sub-system in communication with the at least one first control unit, weather data indicative of current weather conditions in relation to the airport; and associating, by the at least one first control unit, weather conditions with the de-icing time.

20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising storing, within a historic de-icing datastore in communication with the at least one control unit, de-icing data including the de-icing time for the aircraft.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the de-icing data further comprises weather data including weather conditions during the de-icing time, and aircraft data including aircraft type of the aircraft.

22 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising predicting, by the at least one first control unit, a de-icing time for at least one other aircraft within the de-icing area of the airport.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
storing, within a historic de-icing datastore in communication with the at least one control unit, historic de-icing data comprising de-icing times for a plurality of aircraft over a predetermined time period, wherein said predicting comprises predicting the de-icing time for the at least one other aircraft based on the historic de-icing data.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the historic de-icing data further comprises weather data including weather conditions during the de-icing times, and aircraft data including aircraft type of the plurality of aircraft.

25 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising predicting, by the at least one control unit, demand for future de-icing operations based on historic de-icing data.

26 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more control units comprising a processor, to perform operations comprising:
determining, by at least one first control unit, a de-icing time for a first aircraft within a de-icing area of an airport based on tracked aircraft position data; and determining, by at least one second control unit, a schedule for de-icing one or both of the first aircraft or a second aircraft based on the de-icing time.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Dziecielski Jakub
• Mazuz Piotr Marian
• Rudnik Jonasz
• Ruminski Michal
• Rydzewski Aleksander
• Clark Jason W

Classifications

• B64F5/20

  Ground installations for de-icing aircraft · CPC title

• G06Q10/06315 Primary

  Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis · CPC title

• G06Q10/1097 Primary

  using calendar-based scheduling for task assignment · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• B64D15/22

  Automatic initiation by icing detector · CPC title