Flight path generation device and flight path generation method

The flight path generation device and method address the challenge of accurately considering diverse weather conditions by generating safe and efficient flight paths that avoid adverse weather conditions, enhancing aircraft safety and airspace utilization.

JP7832878B2Active Publication Date: 2026-03-18HITACHI LTD
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Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Patents
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2022-10-27
Publication Date
2026-03-18

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing flight path generation systems struggle to accurately consider the diverse weather conditions under which various aircraft can fly, leading to inefficiencies in airspace utilization or increased safety risks due to underestimated or overestimated weather resistance performance.

Method used

A flight path generation device and method that incorporates an input unit for prohibited and notified weather conditions, a weather information extraction unit, and a determination unit to generate flight paths that avoid areas with adverse weather conditions, while outputting relevant weather information for safe and efficient flight paths.

Benefits of technology

The system effectively generates safe and efficient flight paths that account for the weather resistance performance of various aircraft, reducing the risk of collisions and improving airspace utilization efficiency.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

To provide a flight route generator and a flight route generation method that generate a safe flight route for a wide variety of flight vehicles, appropriately taking into account the weather resistant performance of the flight vehicles.SOLUTION: A flight route generator 1 comprises: an input unit 10 that accepts as its input a prohibited weather condition that indicates a weather condition under which a flight vehicle 20 is incapable of flying, a notified weather condition that indicates a weather condition under which the flight vehicle 20 has difficulty in flying, the departure point of the flight vehicle 20, and the destination of the flight vehicle 20; a determination unit 14 that determines whether or not the flight route of the flight vehicle 20 is possible to fly, on the basis of the inputted prohibited and notified weather conditions; and a flight route generation unit 12 that generates a flight route for the flight vehicle 20 so as not to include an area that includes the prohibited weather condition on the basis of weather information and the prohibited weather condition, in accordance with determination results from the determination unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a flight path generation device and a flight path generation method for generating a flight path of an aircraft that requires consideration of weather resistance performance.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, air traffic control operations for aircraft are performed, for example, by an air traffic controller who thinks and judges based on weather information in the controlled airspace and information about each aircraft flying in the airspace. Then, based on the thinking and judgment of the air traffic controller, a flight path that allows the aircraft to fly and has a low risk of contact with other aircraft is instructed to each aircraft. However, in the future, if the traffic volume of aircraft increases with the spread of unmanned aircraft, there is a concern that the burden on air traffic controllers will increase with the current air traffic control operations, which may hinder safe air traffic control operations. In addition, since unmanned aircraft generally do not need to carry people, they are often small, lightweight, and have various flight forms and characteristics. Their weather resistance performance, including their wind resistance performance, is lower than that of conventional aircraft, and it is expected to be defined by various parameters such as flight forms and wind directions. Therefore, it is expected to be difficult for an air traffic controller to instruct an appropriate flight path based on weather information and aircraft specifications as in the past.

[0003] Regarding such a problem of efficient flight path generation considering weather resistance performance, for example, in Patent Document 1, for each point in the airspace, there is a condition information acquisition unit that acquires condition information for the aircraft to be able to fly at that point, and a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information on a given flight path. By comparing the above weather conditions and the above weather information, an operation management device that determines whether the flight path is flyable is proposed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0005] In air traffic control operations, it is necessary to generate flight paths for each aircraft so that the weather conditions along the flight path meet the conditions necessary for each aircraft to fly. If the conditions necessary for each aircraft to fly are underestimated, the aircraft's operational reliability will decrease, and if they are overestimated, aircraft safety will decrease. Therefore, it is necessary to generate flight paths that accurately and precisely assess the conditions necessary for each aircraft to fly. In addition, the flight paths must have a low risk of contact with other aircraft's flight paths and be efficient in terms of flight time and operational density.

[0006] From this perspective, for example, according to the method of Patent Document 1, the flight management device is incorporated into a flight path generation device that generates flight paths for aircraft under air traffic control, and the condition information acquisition unit acquires weather conditions that make it impossible for the aircraft to fly, thereby enabling the generation of flight paths that take into account the constraints of weather conditions.

[0007] However, in this case, it is difficult to pre-define the weather conditions under which an aircraft can fly, which can be determined by a wide variety of parameters, as parameters that the flight management system can accept. Therefore, it is difficult to transmit these weather conditions to the flight management system and to consider them within the flight path generation system. For example, suppose that the weather conditions under which a certain aircraft can fly are determined by two parameters: maximum wind speed and wind direction. The aircraft can fly in winds up to 10 m / s except in a specific wind direction, but in a specific wind direction, there is a risk of instability in winds of 5 m / s. On the other hand, suppose that the above-mentioned condition information acquisition unit can only define maximum wind speed as a parameter common to a wide variety of aircraft. In this case, if the above-mentioned condition information acquisition unit registers the maximum wind speed under which the aircraft can fly as 5 m / s, there is a risk that the flight density will decrease because a flight path cannot be generated even if the weather is actually suitable for flight. Furthermore, if the maximum wind speed at which the aircraft can fly is registered as 10 m / s in the above-mentioned condition information acquisition unit, the flight density will improve, but there is a risk that the aircraft may become unstable due to a 10 m / s wind from the specific wind direction. Therefore, the method described in Patent Document 1 makes it difficult to adequately consider the diverse weather conditions under which various aircraft can fly. If the weather conditions for flight are considered too broadly, it may lead to a decrease in the efficiency of airspace utilization, and if the weather conditions for flight are considered too narrowly, it may create the risk of generating dangerous flight paths.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention provides a flight path generation device and a flight path generation method that appropriately consider the weather resistance performance of various types of aircraft and generate safe flight paths. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To solve the above problems, the flight path generation device according to the present invention is a flight path generation device for generating a flight path for an aircraft, comprising: an input unit for inputting prohibited weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, notified weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, the departure point of the aircraft, and the destination point of the aircraft; and a determination unit for determining whether the flight path of the aircraft is flyable based on the input prohibited weather conditions and notified weather conditions. A weather information extraction unit extracts weather information around the flight path that the aircraft can take, based on the departure point and the destination point. A flight path generation unit generates a flight path for the aircraft such that the flight path does not include the area containing the prohibited weather conditions, based on the judgment result of the judgment unit, and the weather information and the prohibited weather conditions. Based on the aforementioned weather information and the aforementioned weather notification conditions, if there is an area on the flight path of the aircraft that includes the aforementioned weather notification conditions, an output unit outputs the area that includes the aforementioned weather notification conditions and weather notification area weather information which is the weather information for the area that includes the aforementioned weather notification conditions. of In addition, the flight path generation unit outputs a flight path such that the flight path does not include any areas containing the prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, and only if it is difficult to generate such a flight path, it outputs a flight path that does not include the prohibited weather conditions but does include the reported weather conditions. It is characterized by doing so.

[0010] Furthermore, the flight path generation method according to the present invention is a flight path generation method for generating a flight path for an aircraft, wherein the input unit inputs prohibited weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, notified weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, the departure point of the aircraft, and the destination point of the aircraft, The weather information extraction unit extracts weather information around the flight path that the aircraft can take, based on the departure point and the destination point, and determines The cutoff unit determines the flight path of the aircraft based on the input prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, and whether it is permissible to fly. No The flight path generation unit makes a determination and, according to the determination result of the determination unit, The aforementioned Based on weather information and the prohibited weather conditions, a flight path is generated so that the flight path of the aircraft does not include the area containing the prohibited weather conditions. The output unit, based on the weather information and the notified weather conditions, outputs the notified area weather information, which is the area containing the notified weather conditions and the weather information for that area, if there is an area containing the notified weather conditions on the flight path of the aircraft. The flight path generation unit outputs a flight path such that there is no area containing the prohibited weather conditions and the notified weather conditions on the flight path of the aircraft, and only if it is difficult to generate such a flight path, it outputs a flight path that does not include the prohibited weather conditions and includes the notified weather conditions. It is characterized by doing so. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a flight path generation device and a flight path generation method that appropriately consider the weather resistance performance of a wide variety of aircraft and generate a safe flight path. Other issues, configurations, and effects not mentioned above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1]This is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of the flight path generation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a conceptual diagram showing graphs for calculating prohibited weather conditions and reported weather conditions related to Example 1. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of a graph for calculating prohibited weather conditions and reported weather conditions related to Example 1. [Figure 4] This flowchart shows the processing flow of the flight path generation device according to Example 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] In this specification, "flying object" includes aircraft such as passenger planes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles known as drones. In the following section, an embodiment of the present invention using an aircraft as an example of a flying object will be described with reference to the drawings. [Examples]

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of a flight path generation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The flight path generation device 1 consists of an input unit 10, a weather information extraction unit 11, a flight path generation unit 12, an output unit 13, and a judgment and decision unit 14. Here, the input unit 10, weather information extraction unit 11, flight path generation unit 12, output unit 13, and judgment and decision unit 14 of the flight path generation device 1 are realized by, for example, a processor such as a CPU (not shown), a ROM for storing various programs, a RAM for temporarily displaying data in the calculation process, and a storage device such as an external storage device. The processor such as the CPU reads and executes the various programs stored in the ROM, and stores the calculation results, which are the execution results, in the RAM or external storage device. For example, the input unit 10, weather information extraction unit 11, flight path generation unit 12, and output unit 13, which constitute the flight path generation device 1, are built as software on the air traffic control computer 22 that performs air traffic control operations, and the decision unit 14 is built as software on the flight management computer 21 that operates the aircraft. However, this is not limited to this configuration, and the decision unit 14 may also be located on the management computer 22.

[0015] An aircraft 20 as an example of a flying object can communicate with an operation management computer 21 by wireless communication using, for example, radio waves or light or by wired communication using electric wires, and fly along a route instructed by a management unit 23 constructed as software or the like on the operation management computer 21. The operation management computer 21 is a flight management device of the aircraft 20 installed by an operator of the aircraft 20, and can be installed, for example, on the airframe of the aircraft 20 or on the ground. The air traffic control computer 22 is a management device that generates flight routes for a plurality of aircraft including the aircraft 20, and can be installed, for example, on the ground. The weather prediction providing service 24 is, for example, weather prediction data provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency or weather prediction data provided by private operators, and can communicate with the flight route generation device 1 through, for example, an Internet line.

[0016] The management unit 23 that manages the operation of the aircraft 20 transmits to the input unit 10 the departure point and destination of the aircraft 20 and prohibited weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which flight is impossible, and warning weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft 20 may be unable to fly (in other words, difficult to fly). Here, at least one of wind speed, wind direction, wind turbulence intensity, atmospheric pressure, temperature, rainfall, snowfall, humidity, etc. is assumed to be included in the weather conditions, but it is not limited to this. In the case of one, for example, wind speed is desirable. Also, in the case of two, wind speed and wind direction are desirable.

[0017] The weather information extraction unit 11 acquires from the weather prediction providing service 24 the weather information around the flight route defined, for example, as the information of points within a specified distance from the straight line connecting the said departure point and the said arrival point, based on the information regarding the said departure point and the said arrival point from the input unit 10.

[0018] The flight path generation unit 12 obtains the departure point, destination point, and prohibited weather conditions from the input unit 10, and weather information around the flight path from the weather information extraction unit 11. Then, it generates a flight path for aircraft 20 that connects the departure point and destination point, such that it does not overlap with flight paths generated for other aircraft and that there are no areas corresponding to the prohibited weather conditions along the flight path.

[0019] The output unit 13 acquires the flight path of the aircraft 20 and weather information along the flight path from the flight path generation unit 12, and also acquires the weather information to be reported from the input unit 10. The output unit 13 then outputs the flight path to the judgment unit 14, and if there is a report area along the flight path of the aircraft 20 that includes the weather information to be reported, it outputs the report area and the weather information of the report area together to the judgment unit 14.

[0020] The determination unit 14 acquires the flight path, notification area, and notification area weather information from the output unit 13. Based on this information, it calculates the flight method for the aircraft 20 when flying the flight path. If it determines that flight is possible, it instructs the aircraft 20 to fly using that flight method via the management unit 23. On the other hand, if it determines that flight is impossible, it requests the input unit 10 to regenerate the flight path via the management unit 23. In this case, the determination unit 14 may include the weather conditions of the area where flight was impossible as prohibited weather conditions, or add new waypoints to avoid that area and request the generation of multiple flight paths with the waypoints as the starting and ending points.

[0021] Here, prohibited weather conditions and reported weather conditions are shown using Figure 2. Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a graph for calculating prohibited weather conditions and reported weather conditions according to this embodiment. The weather conditions under which the aircraft 20 can fly are expected to be indicated based on a wide variety of conditions by the aircraft manufacturer, etc., but here they are schematically shown by evaluation axes 30 to 32, and the boundary between the weather conditions under which the aircraft 20 can fly and the conditions under which it cannot fly is shown by a curved surface 35. Furthermore, it is assumed that the only weather condition that can be input to the input unit 10 is evaluation axis 30. For example, evaluation axis 30 is the maximum wind speed, evaluation axis 31 is the wind direction relative to the aircraft 20, and evaluation axis 32 is the payload weight of the aircraft 20. However, it is not limited to these, and various flight modes, battery level, and permissible vibration or sway of the payload may also be used. The judgment unit 14 stores the graph (map) shown in Figure 2 in a memory unit not shown.

[0022] Here, prohibited weather conditions are defined as conditions that can be input to the input unit 10, for example, and are sufficient conditions for conditions under which the aircraft 20 cannot fly. That is, for example, in Figure 2, the condition "evaluation axis 30 is greater than or equal to value 36," which represents the region above the maximum value 36 when the curved surface 35 is projected onto the evaluation axis 30, can be a prohibited weather condition because it indicates a condition under which flight is impossible regardless of the values ​​of the other evaluation axes 31 and 32. Furthermore, the notified weather conditions are, for example, conditions that can be input into the input unit 10, and are defined as necessary conditions for conditions under which the aircraft 20 cannot fly. In other words, for example, in Figure 2, the condition "evaluation axis 30 is greater than or equal to value 37," which indicates the region above value 37, the minimum value when the curved surface 35 is projected onto evaluation axis 30, can be a meteorological condition for reporting because it includes both cases where flight is impossible and cases where it is possible, depending on the values ​​of evaluation axis 31 and evaluation axis 32, within the region where evaluation axis 30 is between value 37 and value 36.

[0023] Here are some specific examples. For example, suppose that aircraft 20 has fixed wings and is an aircraft whose payload changes during flight due to fuel consumption as it flies using an internal combustion engine. Also, suppose that the flight path generation unit 12 is capable of generating a flight path that takes only the wind speed of the environment in which aircraft 20 is flying, and therefore only the maximum wind speed at which the aircraft can fly can be input to the input unit 10.

[0024] Generally, aircraft 20 with fixed wings have high wind resistance due to their static stability against winds coming from the front. However, against crosswinds and tailwinds, the fixed wings tend to impair the aircraft's stability, and therefore, it is expected that their wind resistance will decrease in crosswind and tailwind conditions. Furthermore, according to the law of inertia, the acceleration generated in aircraft 20 by wind is proportional to the force from the wind and inversely proportional to its weight. However, the force from the wind on aircraft 20 is determined by the shape of the aircraft and is not affected by the payload weight. Therefore, it is generally expected that the lighter the payload weight of an aircraft, the lower its wind resistance will be.

[0025] In light of these circumstances, for example, the meteorological conditions for the flyable wind of aircraft 20 can be defined as a curved surface 35a that shows the maximum flyable wind speed 30a according to each parameter, with the wind direction 32a relative to the nose and the payload 31a as parameters, as shown in Figure 3. Here, the curved surface 35a is such that, when the payload 31a is kept constant, it is maximum when the wind direction 32a is 0 degrees, and at the same time, when the wind direction 32a is kept constant, it is a curved surface that increases monotonically with increasing payload 31a.

[0026] At this time, the management unit 23 first transmits to the input unit 10 a value 36a as a prohibited weather condition, which is a weather condition that can be input to the input unit 10 and is a sufficient condition for the conditions under which the aircraft 20 cannot fly, and a value 37a as a notified weather condition, which is a weather condition that can be input to the input unit 10 and is a necessary condition for the conditions under which the aircraft 20 cannot fly, along with the departure point and destination point of the aircraft 20.

[0027] Based on the information on the departure point and the arrival point obtained from the input unit 10, the weather information extraction unit 11 obtains weather information, including wind direction and wind speed, for points within a specified distance from the straight line connecting the two points, from the weather forecast provision service 24 as weather information around the flight path.

[0028] The flight path generation unit 12 obtains the departure point, destination point, and prohibited weather conditions from the input unit 10. The flight path generation unit 12 also obtains weather information around the flight path from the weather information extraction unit 11. Then, it generates a flight path for aircraft 20 that connects the departure point and destination point, such that it does not overlap with flight paths generated for other aircraft and that there are no areas corresponding to the prohibited weather conditions along the flight path.

[0029] The output unit 13 obtains the flight path of the aircraft 20 and weather information along the flight path from the flight path generation unit 12, and the notification weather conditions from the input unit 10. It then outputs the flight path to the judgment unit 14, and if there is a notification area along the aircraft 20's flight path that includes the notification weather conditions, it outputs both the notification area and the notification area weather information, which is the weather information for the notification area, to the judgment unit 14.

[0030] The judgment unit 14 acquires the flight path, the notification area, and the notification area weather information from the output unit 13. From the flight path heading and the notification area weather information, it calculates the wind direction and wind speed when flying through the notification area, and from the flight path information and the aircraft's remaining fuel, it calculates the payload when flying through the notification area, and plots the wind direction and payload on the wind resistance characteristics in Figure 3. For example, if the conditions for flying through the notification area are such that it is possible to fly, as shown at point 40a, it commands the aircraft 20 to fly along that flight path via the management unit 23. If the conditions for flying are such that it is impossible to fly, as shown at point 40b, it requests the input unit 10 to regenerate the flight path via the management unit 23. In this case, the decision unit 14 may newly designate the value 38a corresponding to the weather conditions in the area where flight was impossible as a prohibited weather condition, or it may request the generation of multiple flight paths that avoid the area by adding new waypoints and using the waypoints as the departure and destination points.

[0031] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the flight path generation device according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, in step S11, the input unit 10 receives from the management unit 23 the departure point and destination point of the aircraft 20 as an aircraft, prohibited weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which flight is impossible, and notified weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft 20 may be unable to fly (in other words, weather conditions under which flight is difficult). In step S12, the weather information extraction unit 11 obtains weather information around the flight path from the weather forecast provision service 24 based on the information about the departure point and destination point from the input unit 10, for example, as information about points within a specified distance from a straight line connecting those points.

[0032] In step S13, the flight path generation unit 12 obtains the departure point, destination point, and prohibited weather conditions from the input unit 10. It also obtains weather information for the area around the flight path from the weather information extraction unit 11. Then, it generates a flight path for aircraft 20 that connects the departure point and the destination point, such that it does not overlap with flight paths generated for other aircraft and that there are no areas corresponding to prohibited weather conditions along the flight path.

[0033] In step S14, the decision unit 14 obtains the flight path, notification area, and the notification area weather information from the output unit 13, and calculates the flight method for the aircraft 20 when flying the flight path based on this information. The decision unit 14 then determines whether there is a notification area, which is an area containing notification weather conditions, on the calculated flight path. If the determination result is that there is a notification area on the flight path, the process proceeds to step S15, and the flight path, notification weather area, and notification weather conditions are output to the management unit 23. On the other hand, if the determination result is that there is no notification area on the flight path, the process proceeds to step S16, and the decision unit 14 outputs the flight path to the management unit 23.

[0034] In step S17, the decision unit 14 determines whether flight is permitted based on the outputted information. If flight is permitted, the process ends. On the other hand, if flight is not permitted, the process proceeds to step S18, where the management unit 23 requests the input unit 10 to regenerate the flight path. Specifically, changes are made to the prohibited flight conditions or the flight path, and the process returns to step S11 to repeat the above-mentioned process.

[0035] In this embodiment, the flight path generation unit 12 obtains the departure point, destination point, prohibited weather conditions, and notified weather conditions from the input unit 10, and generates a flight path for the aircraft 20 that does not overlap with flight paths generated for other aircraft and does not contain any areas corresponding to prohibited weather conditions or notified weather conditions. Only if it is impossible to generate such a path, the unit may generate a flight path that includes areas corresponding to notified weather conditions.

[0036] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the input unit 10 acquires prohibited weather conditions and notified weather conditions, it may acquire multiple prohibited weather conditions and the aforementioned notified conditions according to path parameters that affect the aircraft's weather resistance, such as altitude and speed, and the flight path generation unit 12 and output unit 13 may refer to the corresponding prohibited conditions and notified weather conditions according to the parameters on the flight path. According to the present invention, for example, the weather conditions and notified weather conditions corresponding to cases where the altitude and speed are below a specified value, which corresponds to takeoff and landing when wind resistance is reduced, may be set strictly, while the weather conditions and notified weather conditions corresponding to cases where the altitude and speed are above a specified value, which corresponds to cruising with relatively high wind resistance, may be relaxed. This allows for stricter weather conditions and reported weather conditions when the altitude and ground speed are below specified values, corresponding to situations like takeoff and landing where wind resistance is reduced, while relaxing the weather conditions and reported weather conditions when the altitude and ground speed are above specified values, corresponding to situations like cruising where wind resistance is relatively high. This reduces the reported weather range and reported weather conditions output by the output unit 13, and consequently reduces the processing load on the judgment unit 14 and the frequency with which the judgment unit 14 determines that flight is impossible and requests regeneration of the flight path.

[0037] In this embodiment, if the determination unit 14 determines that it is impossible to fly along the flight path output from the output unit 13, and if it is possible to modify the flight path and generate a flyable proposed flight path, it may output the proposed flight path to the input unit 10, and the flight path generation unit 12 may obtain the proposed flight path from the input unit 10 and generate a flight path based on the proposed flight path.

[0038] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the determination unit 14 determines that flight is impossible along the flight path output from the output unit 13, it may output information about the flight-impossible area, which is the area where flight is deemed impossible, to the input unit 10, and the flight path generation unit 12 may obtain the flight-impossible area from the input unit 10 and generate a flight path that does not include the flight-impossible area.

[0039] In this embodiment, the evaluation axes were described as three axes (30-32) and the weather conditions that can be input to the input unit 10 as one axis (evaluation axis 30). However, the number of evaluation axes is not limited to this example, nor is it limited to weather conditions. For example, by defining aircraft weight as an evaluation axis and evaluating the range of aircraft weight expected to occur due to fuel consumption, etc., during the aircraft's flight, it becomes possible to generate a flight path that takes into account weight changes during flight.

[0040] As described above, this embodiment makes it possible to provide a flight path generation device and a flight path generation method that appropriately consider the weather resistance performance of a wide variety of aircraft and generate safe flight paths.

[0041] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a flight path generation device and a flight path generation method that appropriately consider the weather resistance performance of a wide variety of aircraft, generate efficient flight paths with a low risk of contact with other aircraft, and reduce the risk of collision with other aircraft.

[0042] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, users of the flight path generation device, such as the flight operations managers of each aircraft, can obtain flight paths that appropriately consider the weather resistance of the aircraft, without being limited by the constraints of communication channels between computers, input units, and weather conditions that can be processed by the flight path generation unit.

[0043] According to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the weather forecast range and weather forecast conditions output by the output unit 13, and consequently reduce the processing load on the judgment unit 14 and the frequency with which the judgment unit 14 determines that flight is impossible and requests the regeneration of the flight path.

[0044] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, for example, by setting strict weather conditions and reported weather conditions corresponding to situations where the altitude and ground speed are below specified values, which correspond to takeoff and landing when wind resistance is reduced, while relaxing the weather conditions and reported weather conditions corresponding to situations where the altitude and ground speed are above specified values, which correspond to cruising when wind resistance is relatively high, the reported weather range and reported weather conditions output by the output unit 13 can be reduced, and consequently the processing load on the judgment unit 14 and the frequency with which the judgment unit 14 determines that flight is impossible and requests the regeneration of the flight path can be reduced.

[0045] According to this embodiment, when the flight path generation unit generates an unflyable path for the aircraft 20, it becomes possible to efficiently regenerate a flyable path for the aircraft 20.

[0046] In this embodiment, when the determination unit 14 determines that flight is impossible along the flight path output by the output unit 13, it outputs information about the flight-impossible area, which is the area where flight is deemed impossible, to the input unit 10. The flight path generation unit 12 then obtains the flight-impossible area from the input unit 10 and generates a flight path that does not include the flight-impossible area. This makes it possible to efficiently regenerate a flight path that the aircraft 20 can fly when the flight path generation unit generates a flight path that the aircraft 20 cannot fly.

[0047] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are included. For example, the embodiments described above are explained in detail to make the present invention easier to understand, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0048] 1…Flight path generation device 10...Input section 11…Weather Information Extraction Unit 12... Flight path generation unit 13…Output section 14... Judgment department 20...Aircraft 21…Flight Management Computer 22… Control computer 23…Management Department 24… Weather forecasting service 30, 31, 32… Evaluation axis

Claims

1. A flight path generation device that generates the flight path of an aircraft, An input unit for inputting prohibited weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, notified weather conditions indicating weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, the departure point of the aircraft, and the destination point of the aircraft. A determination unit that determines whether or not the flight path of an aircraft is permissible based on the input prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, A weather information extraction unit extracts weather information around the flight path that the aircraft can take, based on the departure point and the destination point. A flight path generation unit generates a flight path for the aircraft such that the flight path does not include the area containing the prohibited weather conditions, based on the judgment result of the judgment unit, and the weather information and the prohibited weather conditions. Based on the aforementioned weather information and the aforementioned notifiable weather conditions, if there is an area including the aforementioned notifiable weather conditions on the flight path of the aircraft, the system includes an output unit that outputs the area including the aforementioned notifiable weather conditions and notifiable area weather information which is the weather information for the area including the aforementioned notifiable weather conditions. The flight path generation device is characterized in that the flight path generation unit outputs a flight path such that the flight path does not include any areas containing the prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, and only when it is difficult to generate such a flight path does it output a flight path that does not include the prohibited weather conditions and does include the reported weather conditions.

2. In the flight path generation device according to claim 1, The flight path generation device is characterized in that, when the input unit acquires the prohibited weather conditions and the notified weather conditions, it acquires a plurality of the prohibited weather conditions and the notified weather conditions according to the path parameters that affect the weather resistance performance of the aircraft, and the flight path generation unit and the output unit refer to the corresponding prohibited weather conditions and the notified weather conditions according to the parameters on the flight path.

3. In the flight path generation device according to claim 1, If the determination unit determines that flight along the flight path output by the output unit is impossible, and if it is possible to modify the flight path and generate a proposed flight path as a new, flyable flight path, it outputs the proposed flight path to the input unit. The flight path generation device is characterized in that the flight path generation unit acquires the proposed flight path from the input unit and generates the flight path based on the proposed flight path.

4. A flight path generation device according to claim 1, If the determination unit determines that flight along the flight path output from the output unit is impossible, it outputs information about the flight-impossible area, which is the area where flight is deemed impossible, to the input unit. The flight path generation device is characterized in that the flight path generation unit acquires the unflyable area from the input unit and generates the flight path so as not to include the unflyable area on the flight path.

5. A flight path generation device according to claim 2, If the determination unit determines that flight along the flight path output from the output unit is impossible, it outputs information about the flight-impossible area, which is the area where flight is deemed impossible, to the input unit. The flight path generation device is characterized in that the flight path generation unit acquires the unflyable area from the input unit and generates the flight path so as not to include the unflyable area on the flight path.

6. A flight path generation device according to claim 3, If the determination unit determines that flight along the flight path output from the output unit is impossible, it outputs information about the flight-impossible area, which is the area where flight is deemed impossible, to the input unit. The flight path generation device is characterized in that the flight path generation unit acquires the unflyable area from the input unit and generates the flight path so as not to include the unflyable area on the flight path.

7. A method for generating a flight path for an aircraft, The input unit receives the following inputs: prohibited weather conditions indicating the weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, notified weather conditions indicating the weather conditions under which the aircraft cannot fly, the departure point of the aircraft, and the destination point of the aircraft. The weather information extraction unit extracts weather information around the flight path that the aircraft can take, based on the departure point and the destination point. The determination unit determines whether the flight path of the aircraft is permissible based on the input prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, The flight path generation unit generates a flight path for the aircraft based on the weather information and the prohibited weather conditions, according to the determination result of the determination unit, such that the flight path does not include the area containing the prohibited weather conditions. The output unit, based on the weather information and the notified weather conditions, outputs the area including the notified weather conditions and the notified area weather information, which is the weather information for the area including the notified weather conditions, if there is an area including the notified weather conditions on the flight path of the aircraft. A flight path generation method characterized in that the flight path generation unit outputs a flight path such that the flight path does not include any areas containing the prohibited weather conditions and the reported weather conditions, and only when it is difficult to generate such a flight path, it outputs a flight path that does not include the prohibited weather conditions but does include the reported weather conditions.

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