Method and system for assisting the piloting of an aircraft in landing phase

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9230444-B2
Application number	US-201414296991-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2014
Priority date	Jun 13, 2013
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

A method and system for determining local information which is dependent on a local runway state when the aircraft is in movement on the runway in order to update, in real-time, or practically in real-time, data used by a braking assistance system, according to whether the local runway state associated with the determined local information indicates a runway deterioration relative to a reference runway state used initially.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for assisting the piloting of an aircraft in landing phase, comprising the steps of:
generating a braking data item on the basis of a reference runway state, said braking data item being supplied as an input for a braking assistance module adapted to generate a braking instruction to control a braking device of the same aircraft in the landing phase;
determining, by the same aircraft, a local information item representing a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, which is dependent on a local runway state characterizing the runway zone upon which the same aircraft is moving on the ground during the landing phase;
and when the local information item indicates a local runway state that is more degraded than the reference runway state:
updating the reference runway state or the braking data item on the basis of the determined local information item, and providing an updated braking data as input for the braking assistance module to generate a new braking instruction controlling the braking device of the same aircraft.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the local information item is an estimation of the local runway state by an on-board system in the same aircraft, and the updating step updates the reference runway state with the estimated local runway state.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the updating step is carried out when at least one of the following critical conditions is encountered:
the difference between a commanded value of deceleration of the same aircraft and a value of deceleration measured by the same aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold;
the level of manual depression of a brake pedal by an operator exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
the difference between a level of braking commanded by the same aircraft and a level of braking measured in the same aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold, an anti-skid system of the same aircraft is triggered.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the local information item represents a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, and the method includes a step of obtaining an information item, referred to as reference information item, representing a level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft deduced from the reference runway state or from the braking data item and a step of comparing the reference information item with the local information item to determine whether the local runway state is more degraded than the reference runway state.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the updating step includes computing a correction coefficient dependent on the determined local information item and the braking data item correction on the basis of the computed correction coefficient.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the braking data item is a minimum stopping distance dependent on the reference runway state, and the updating step includes correcting the minimum stopping distance based on the determined local information item, by interpolating several minimum stopping distances respectively associated with theoretical runway states.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the determined local information item represents a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, and correcting the minimum stopping distance based on the determined local information item includes interpolating minimum stopping distances associated with theoretical deceleration or braking distances on the basis of the current determined level of braking or deceleration.

8. An assistance system for piloting an aircraft in a landing phase, comprising:
a generating module for generating a braking data item on the basis of a reference runway state;
a braking assistance module receiving said generated braking data item as input, and being adapted to generate a braking instruction to control a braking device of the same aircraft in the landing phase;
a determining module for determining a local information item which represents a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, and is dependent on a local runway state characterizing the runway zone upon which the same aircraft is moving on the ground during the landing phase; and
an updating module for updating the reference runway state or the braking data item on the basis of the determined local information item, when the local information item indicates a local runway state that is more degraded than the reference runway state, and for providing an updated braking data item as input for the braking assistance module, to generate a new braking instruction controlling the braking device of the same aircraft.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the local information item is an estimation of the local runway state, and the updating module is configured to update the reference runway state with the estimated local runway state.

10. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the local information item represents a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, and the system includes an information module for obtaining an information item, referred to as reference information item, representing a level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft deduced from the reference runway state or from the braking data item, and a comparator for comparing the reference information item with the local information item to determine whether the local runway state is more degraded than the reference runway state.

11. The system according to claim 10 , further comprising a determining module for determining whether at least one of the following critical conditions is encountered in order to trigger updating by the updating module:
the difference between a deceleration set-point value of the same aircraft to apply and a value of deceleration measured by the same aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold;
the level of manual depression of a brake pedal by an operator exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
the difference between a commanded level of braking of the same aircraft and a level of braking measured in the same aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold, an anti-skid system of the same aircraft is triggered.

12. An aircraft comprising at least one assistance system for piloting assistance system in a landing phase, the assistance system comprising:
a generating module for generating a braking data item on the basis of a reference runway state;
a braking assistance module receiving said generated braking data item as input, and being adapted to generate a braking instruction to control a braking device of the same aircraft in the landing phase;
a determining module for determining a local information item which represents a current level of braking or deceleration of the same aircraft, and is dependent on a local runway state characterizing the runway zone upon which the same aircraft is moving on the ground during the landing phase; and
an updating module for updating the reference runway state or the braking data item on the basis of the determined local information item, when the local information item indicates a local runway state that is more degraded than the reference runway state, for providing an updated braking data item as input for the braking assistance module, to generate a new braking instruction controlling the braking device of the same aircraft.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas
• Airbus Sas
• Airbus Operation Sas

Inventors

• Lascombes Jean-Michel
• Journade Jerome
• Morin Remi
• Lignee Robert

Classifications

• B64C25/426

  Braking devices providing an automatic sequence of braking · CPC title

• B60T8/1703 Primary

  for aircrafts · CPC title

• G08G5/76

  for monitoring atmospheric conditions · CPC title

• G08G5/51

  for control when on the ground, e.g. taxiing or rolling · CPC title

• G08G5/54 Primary

  for approach or landing · CPC title