Method of computing aircraft trajectory subject to lateral and vertical constraints

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9875658-B2
Application number	US-201514958068-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2015
Priority date	Dec 3, 2014
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A method for computing a setpoint trajectory of an aircraft comprising at least two subsets comprises the formulation and the solving of an optimization problem for the trajectory, and the formulation of the problem comprises at least the formulation of a constraint related to a transition of legs on at least one first subset of the trajectory, and the formulation of a constraint related to a transition of vertical flight phases on at least one second subset of the trajectory. The invention also relates to a system and a computer program for the computation of a trajectory.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for computing an optimized setpoint trajectory of an aircraft, executed by a flight management system, the trajectory defining at least successive values of lateral position, altitude, and speed of the aircraft, the trajectory comprising at least two subsets, the method comprising at least:
a step of formulating at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory for at least one optimization criterion, the formulating step comprising at least:
a sub-step of formulating at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of legs on at least one first subset of the trajectory; and
a sub-step of formulating at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of vertical flight phases on at least one second subset of the trajectory;

a step of solving the optimal control problem for the trajectory; and
controlling an automatic pilot with the trajectory that was formulated using the solved optimal control problem.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of formulating at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory further comprises a sub-step of creating at least one first subset of the trajectory for at least one transition of legs, and a sub-step of creating at least one second subset of the trajectory for at least one transition of vertical phases.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of formulating at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory further comprises a sub-step of formulating at least one constraint related to a performance criterion of the aircraft on at least one subset of the trajectory.

4. The method according to claim 1 , comprising a prior step of initializing the trajectory.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one optimal control problem minimizes a cost criterion.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the cost criterion is a function of at least two properties of the trajectory.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the properties of the trajectory comprise at least two properties chosen among a group comprising fuel consumption, time spent in flight, carbon dioxide emissions, nitrogen dioxide emissions and noise generated.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of formulating the at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory comprises a formulation of an optimal control problem on each of the subsets of the trajectory.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one optimal control problem is a Bolza problem.

10. The method according to claim 1 , comprising on completion of the solving of the at least one optimal control problem a step of analyzing the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker multipliers for at least one constraint.

11. The method according to claim 10 comprising, when at least one Karush-Kuhn-Tucker multiplier related to a constraint on a transition of legs or a vertical phase transition is non-zero, the modification of at least one flight phase.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the modification of at least one flight phase comprises the inversion of a transition of legs and of a transition of phases of a vertical trajectory.

13. The method according to claim 10 , comprising, when the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker multiplier of at least two constraints is non-zero, a step of selecting a constraint to be relaxed.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the constraints are relaxed in a predefined order.

15. The method according to claim 13 , comprising a step of displaying to the pilot the constraints whose Karush-Kuhn-Tucker multiplier is non-zero.

16. The method according to claim 1 , comprising a step of displaying at least two constraints so as to allow an operator to modify them.

17. A trajectory computation system, comprising at least one processor configured to compute an optimized setpoint trajectory of an aircraft, the trajectory defining at least successive values of lateral position, altitude, and speed of the aircraft, the trajectory comprising at least two subsets, the device comprising at least:
a module configured to formulate at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory for at least one optimization criterion, the module comprising at least:
a sub-module for formulating at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of legs on at least one flight phase; and
a sub-module for formulating at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of vertical flight phases on at least one flight phase;

a module configured to solve at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory for the at least one optimization criterion; and
a module configured to control an automatic pilot with the trajectory that was formulated using the solved optimal control problem.

18. The system according to claim 17 , comprising at least one man machine interface configured to display on at least one screen at least one constraint for a parameter of the trajectory, the computed value of the parameter of the trajectory and a tolerance margin on said at least one constraint.

19. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the man machine interface is configured to allow an operator to modify the value of the tolerance for the at least one constraint.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions executable by a processor of a flight management system, the set of instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform operations to compute an optimized setpoint trajectory of an aircraft, the trajectory defining at least successive values of lateral position, altitude, and speed of the aircraft, the trajectory comprising at least two flight phases, said operations comprising:
executing a formulation of at least one optimal control problem for at least one optimization criterion, the formulation comprising at least:
a formulation of at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of legs on at least one flight phase; and
a formulation of at least one constraint of said at least one optimal control problem related to a transition of vertical flight phases on at least one flight phase;

solving said at least one optimal control problem for the trajectory for the at least one optimization criterion; and
controlling an automatic pilot with the trajectory that was formulated using the solved optimal control problem.

Assignees

• Thales Sa

Inventors

• Le Merrer Mathieu
• Dacre-Wright Benoit
• Coulmeau François

Classifications

• G06Q10/047

  Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem · CPC title

• G08G5/0034

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/003 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D1/0005 Primary

  with arrangements to save energy · CPC title

• G08G5/32

  for flight plan preparation · CPC title