816results about "Flight plan management" patented technology

A method for policing and managing the operation of a flying, unmanned aircraft in the event of usurpation of control of, malfunction of, or ill-intentioned use of, this aircraft includes the steps of (a) detecting inappropriate operation of the aircraft; (b) transmitting a takeover command to the aircraft to interrupt control of the operation of this aircraft by a first pilot and relinquish control of the aircraft to a second pilot; and (c) transmitting control commands to the aircraft to control its operation by the second pilot, until the need for alternate pilot control of the aircraft has ended or until the aircraft has landed safely.

Method and systems for managing flight plan data associated with an aircraft are provided. A list of navigational entry selections (e.g., flight plan origins and flight plan destinations) is generated. Each of the navigational entry selections is associated with the aircraft (e.g., previously used). The list of navigational entry selections is displayed to a user of the aircraft. An indication of a selection of at least one of the navigational entry selections is received from the user. The navigational entry selections are generated, for example, based on navigational entries previously stored in a memory on-board the aircraft, a location of the aircraft, or a combination of the previous navigational entries and the location of the aircraft.

A framework for combining a weather risk analysis with appropriate operational rules includes a data initialization component, a rules processing component, and one or more weather risk analysis and assessment tools to evaluate a flight condition. The framework applies current, historical, predicted and forecasted weather data to the one or more operational rules governing a mission, a payload, a flight plan, a craft type, and a location of the mission for aircraft such as an unmanned aerial vehicle or remotely-piloted vehicle, and generates advisories based on the evaluation of flight conditions such as a mission compliance status, instructions for operation of unmanned aircraft, and management advisories. The flight condition advisories include either a “fly” advisory or a “no-fly” advisory, and the framework may also provide a mission prioritization and optimization system.

An automated flight control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising a flight computer for managing functions related to a flight of the UAV, an application processor for managing functions on the UAV not related to flight, a flight data recorder to record data related to a flight of the UAV, an attitude and heading reference system, a global navigation satellite system receiver, a self-separation module for communicating with another aircraft for the purpose of avoiding a collision, and a wireless communications module for communicating with the remote system, wherein the automated flight control system is capable of receiving operational instructions via the wireless communications module from the remote system.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey system and methods for surveying an area of interest are disclosed. The system can include a plurality of docking stations positioned at predetermined locations within the area of interest, each docking station comprising a platform to support a UAV while docked at the docking station; a battery charger; and a communications interface; a plurality of UAVs distributed among the plurality of docking stations, each UAV comprising a communications interface; and a system controller comprising a processor and transmitter communicatively coupled to the plurality of UAVs.

A system and method are provided to support safe integration of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) into the National Airspace Structure in the United States. Substantially real-time data communication provides interested parties with an ability to communicate directly with an operator of the sUAS during system operations. Individual interactive user interfaces are used to implement two way text-like messaging directly with the sUAS control console to enhance safety and reduce conflicts with operations of the sUAS. When an instance arises in which an air traffic controller needs to advise an sUAS operator regarding an unauthorized sUAS mission or a requirement to keep an sUAS clear of a specific block of airspace or specific geographic location due to an immediate, emergent and/or unforeseen event, a means is provided by which to more effectively and more quickly communicate directly with the sUAS operator.

A dynamic weather route system automatically analyzes routes for in-flight aircraft flying in convective weather regions and attempts to find more time and fuel efficient reroutes around current and predicted weather cells. The dynamic weather route system continuously analyzes all flights and provides reroute advisories that are dynamically updated in real time while the aircraft are in flight. The dynamic weather route system includes a graphical user interface that allows users to visualize, evaluate, modify if necessary, and implement proposed reroutes.

A tailored arrival allocation system (TAAS) for determining a descent profile for an aircraft is described. TAAS includes a gateway operable for establishing communications between TAAS and aircraft, and for establishing communications between TAAS and at least one of a source of weather data, an air traffic services facility, and an airlines operations center. A processing device communicatively coupled to the gateway calculates a descent profile based on data received from a plurality of an air traffic services coordination function, an airline operations center function, data from the aircraft, and data received from a weather station that allows the aircraft to meet the required time at one or more metering fixes during the descent. Output interfaces provide data relating to the calculated descent profile to the processing device. The gateway communicates with a flight management computer for the aircraft to incorporate the calculated descent profile onto the flight management computer.

A system, device, and method for generating and employing risk-based flight path data are disclosed. The system for employing risk-based flight path data may include one or more one avionics systems and/or remote aircraft operator systems configured to receive risk-based flight path data from a route generator (RG). The RG may acquire navigation data representative of one or more waypoints, acquire risk object data based upon the navigation data, determine the risk-based flight path data representative of a risk-based flight path as a function of the acquired navigation data, the acquired risk data, and a route generating algorithm, and provide the flight path data to the one or more avionics systems and/or remote aircraft operator systems. In some embodiments, the risk object data may include a plurality of risk clearance altitudes. In other embodiments, the risk object data may include a plurality of risk clearance elevations.

The invention provides a general aviation flight plan management system which comprises a flight plan database, a plan period management module, a plan generation reporting and recording module, a plan data service module and a system operation module. The flight plan database keeps flight plan data, basic and dynamic information data and user and system information data; the plan period management module is connected with the flight plan data and the basic and dynamic information data from the plan data service module to realize management operation of the flight plan; the plan generation reporting and recording module is connected with the flight plan data and the basic and dynamic information data from the plan data service module, and generates and reports and records a real-time flight plan according to user requests; the plan data service module is connected with the flight plan data and the basic and dynamic information data from the flight plan database for the plan period management module and the plan generation reporting and recording module to call; and the system operation module determines operation authority of users according to the user and system information data in the flight plan database.

The invention discloses flight control, permission and safety maintenance methods, flight permission and safety maintenance devices, a server and an aerial vehicle. The flight control method comprises when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies, a specific flight area which the unmanned aerial vehicle is entering is determined, and the unmanned aerial vehicle needs a flight permission to enter the specific flight area; application information and information of the specific flight area are sent to the server, the application information applies for the flight permission, and the information of the specific flight area indicates the specific flight area; and when the flight permission from the server is received, a flight instruction is sent, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle enters the specific flight area according to the flight instruction. The flexibility of a flight route of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be improved.

A method and apparatus for assisting in management of unmanned aerial vehicles. Planned routes are identified for the unmanned aerial vehicles. The planned routes are displayed on a map. A set of planned routes is identified that is within a predefined distance of a selected planned route during substantially a same point in time within a viewing area on the map.

A on-aircraft computer device predicts aircraft states (e.g., altitude, speed, flight path angle, and fuel consumption) at any given time, while utilizing a Deterministic Genetic Algorithm to search 4-D flight path candidates that can comply with all path constraints to produce a feasible 4-D path candidate as a final OPD flight path to arrive at a metering waypoint in a specified time window.

Technologies are generally described for preparation and drone based delivery of food items. In some examples, a delivery vehicle may be arranged for autonomous or semi-autonomous preparation of food items while the vehicle is en route to a delivery destination or parked at the delivery destination. Aerial and/or ground based drones, which may be stored in the vehicle, may be loaded with prepared food items and deliver their payloads to delivery locations. Preparation timing and other parameters for the food items, travel parameters for the delivery vehicle, and/or the delivery destination may be selected based on suitability of the delivery destination for launching/recovering the drones or delivery of the food items to the delivery locations. The drones may carry multiple payloads to multiple locations and may have environmentally controlled storage.

A computer-implemented method for managing the data of an aircraft flight plan comprises collecting initial data of an operational flight plan from a flight planning system FPS by an electronic device of electronic flight bag EFB type; converting the initial data and communicating the converted data to the avionics system of the flight management system FMS, the FMS being able to compute an avionic flight plan on the basis of the converted data; and retrieving the avionic flight plan data such as processed by the flight management system FMS. Developments describe notably the verification of the security and/or of the integrity of the converted initial data by means of predefined compliance rules; the emulation of avionics protocols and the use of the encipherment of the data. System aspects and software aspects are described.

A surface washing drone with a modular cleaning head unit. The surface washing drone may also include a safety failover mechanism. The surface washing drone communicates and works together with other surface washing drones in a group.

A method for providing a display to a flight crew of an aircraft includes providing a horizontal navigation display that includes data regarding the movement of the aircraft in a horizontal direction and an aircraft icon indicating a position of the aircraft in the horizontal direction. The method further includes providing a vertical navigation display that includes data regarding the movement of the aircraft in a vertical direction and an aircraft icon indicating a position of the aircraft in the vertical direction. The horizontal and vertical navigation displays are disposed adjacent to one another on a single display device. The method further includes receiving a first input to the display device indicating a selection of the horizontal navigation display aircraft icon, and, in response to the selection of the horizontal navigation display aircraft icon, engaging a horizontal navigation control feature of an autopilot system of the aircraft.

An electronic flight bag user interface system that has a multi-function flight information display unit in electronic communication with a remote processing unit. The processing unit is in electronic communication with an aircraft avionics system. Pre-loaded flight information allows the user to access and display flight information on the display unit in digital electronic format, including charts and plates, flight manuals, weather information, camera viewing information, ship library information, and revision status of software programmed in the processing unit and revision status of pre-loaded charts, plates and manuals. The system operates on a single or a dual operating system platform, a Windows® based operating system and the other based on a DO178B certified operating system.

A device for aiding the flight management of an aircraft includes a navigation display, a personalized database capable of storing navigation-aid data, each datum comprising a classification type representative of a family or of one or more categories of navigation-aid data, one or more periods of validity of the said datum, information relating to at least one geographic zone of the said datum, one graphic and/or textual representation of the said datum, selection means allowing an operator to choose one (or more) type(s) of classification, called selected type(s), extraction means capable of extracting from the personalized database the navigation-aid datum or data called extracted data of which the type is equal to at least one selected type, of which at least one geographic zone is situated at a distance, from the flight plan or from the aircraft, that is less than a predetermined maximum distance and of which at least one period of validity verifies a predefined display time criterion, the said extraction means transmitting the said extracted datum or data to the said navigation display capable of displaying the representations of the said extracted data.

A method for managing aircraft operations includes determining, via a trajectory predictor, an expected fuel usage for a flight along a desired route, and determining, via at least one processor, an available cargo capacity for the flight along the desired route based at least in part on the expected fuel usage. In addition, the method includes determining, via the at least one processor and the trajectory predictor, a passenger ticket price, a cargo price, and a fuel quantity based at least in part on an available seating capacity, an expected passenger demand, the available cargo capacity, and an expected cargo demand to enhance profitability of a flight network. The method also includes outputting the passenger ticket price, the cargo price, and the fuel quantity to a user interface, to a storage device, and/or to a network.

Flight substitution and reroute is accomplished based on frequently updated flow constrained areas and a flight substitution system to minimize the impact of severe weather on the NAS. Each flight is assigned a route, a FCA controlled time of arrival (FCA_CTA) slot, a controlled time of departure, and a destination controlled time of arrival, wherein the flights are sorted according to the FCA_CTA slot to pass sequentially through an FCA. When a flight is re-routed, the subsequent flight FCA_CTA is updated with the FCA_CTA slot made available by the preceding flight. If such an update is not feasible, then the subsequent flight FCA_CTA is updated according to a slot credit substitution give-away method. The benefits and costs for rerouting a flight out of an AFP are input to an optimization framework for providing the best flight time and flight reroute options.

The invention discloses a smart air traffic control system which comprises a data receiving interface module, a data processing center, an emergency override module, an electronic flying plan display module, a flight monitoring display module and a flight control instruction sending module. The data processing center conducts accurate calculation of the flight plan by receiving accurate real-time flying information of airplanes; a whole flying queue is optimized, including shortening the space between the airplanes, reasonably allocating the take off and land sequence of corresponding runways, changing the landing angle in real time and curved approaching; therefore the efficiency of the whole flying queue is effectively improved, and safety is enhanced; finally, the whole flying plan is displayed on a monitoring displayer of air traffic controllers. The air traffic controllers can observe the order of precedence of the flying queue taking off and landing through the displayer at any time, and adjust the queue sequence by changing parameters such as the taking off/landing paths and the flying speed. Therefore, the commuting rate of the air ports can be improved and the work efficiency of the air traffic controllers can be improved.

A system is provided for controlling the speed of an aircraft during a deceleration segment between a first state associated with a first speed and a first time and a second state associated with a second speed and a second time. The system includes a navigation system configured to determine the first state; a guidance system configured to determine the second state; and an active deceleration system coupled to the navigation system and the guidance system and configured to construct the deceleration segment between the first state and the second state with at least one intermediate speed between the first speed and the second speed.