4D Flight Planning With Integrated Aircraft Performance Constraints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mission planning systems for aircraft require human intervention for flight plan optimization, leading to inefficient and suboptimal solutions due to iterative processes, lack of comprehensive performance calculations, and inconsistent use of aircraft performance models, resulting in trajectories that are impossible to fly or violate aircraft limitations.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using a routing engine, database module, and performance module to determine a flight plan that integrates aircraft performance constraints, utilizing a set of solvers and machine learning for optimized four-dimensional routes, ensuring compliance with aircraft capabilities and environmental factors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If human operators manually define flight plans through iterative optimization steps, then the flight plan can be customized and adjusted, but the process becomes time-consuming and unable to provide high quality solutions in reasonable timeframe
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automated flight plan optimization without requiring human operators to manually execute optimization steps. The routing engine with integrated performance calculation autonomously generates optimized routes, eliminating the need for manual iterative optimization while maintaining solution quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of human operators performing iterative optimization with an automated computational system. The routing engine uses algorithmic approaches to substitute human decision-making and manual optimization steps with automated calculations.
2Productivity
If performance calculation is performed after route optimization in existing systems, then the routing process can proceed independently, but the calculated trajectories may violate aircraft performance constraints and be impossible to fly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs performance calculation during the route optimization process itself, rather than after. The routing engine integrates performance constraints as input parameters and calculates them preliminarily alongside route optimization, ensuring that generated trajectories inherently comply with aircraft performance limitations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the routing optimization process with performance calculation into a single integrated operation. The routing engine combines both functions, allowing simultaneous optimization of route and verification of performance constraints, eliminating the sequential separation that causes feasibility issues.
3Productivity
If existing mission planning systems use simplified performance models for route optimization, then the calculation can be performed faster, but the trajectories do not comply with actual aircraft performance constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameters used in performance calculation from simplified models to actual aircraft performance parameters. The routing engine accepts and uses real aircraft performance data, environmental conditions, and operational parameters to maintain both computational efficiency and constraint accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention belongs to the technical field of mission planning and execution systems for aircraft. In particular, the present invention proposes a method for determining a flight plan for an aircraft mission in a mission planning system. The flight plan comprising a four dimensional route including the aircraft latitude, longitude, altitude and time, and aircraft performance constraints results.