ACARS Fuel Advisories Using Tail-Specific Aircraft Performance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems for providing fuel efficiency advisories to flight crews increase workload and require portable devices, limiting their adoption and effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing ACARS messages to automatically transmit aircraft performance data to a ground station, where a ground computing system determines tail-specific offsets and generates advisories for target parameter values, which are then uplinked to the aircraft for presentation to the flight crew without the need for manual input or portable devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional systems use EFB or portable electronic display to provide fuel efficiency advisories, then advisories can be provided to flight crew, but flight crew workload increases and portable devices are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an ACARS message system as an intermediary between the flight management computer and the flight crew. The FMC automatically generates and sends advisories through the ACARS system, which relays them to the crew, eliminating the need for portable devices and manual operations while maintaining effective communication of fuel efficiency recommendations
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the flight management computer to automatically generate, process, and transmit fuel efficiency advisories without requiring flight crew intervention. The automated generation of advisories based on flight parameters and the automatic transmission through ACARS reduces crew workload and eliminates the need for manual device operation
2Loss of information
If manual entry of flight information is required to receive advisories, then advisories can be provided, but flight crew workload increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flight management computer automatically extracts necessary flight information from existing flight parameters and generates advisories without requiring manual data entry by the flight crew. The system self-services by utilizing already-collected flight data to produce and transmit fuel efficiency recommendations through the ACARS system
Solution Approach 2:
The ACARS system serves multiple functions: it transmits routine aircraft operational data, receives ground-based advisories, and delivers fuel efficiency recommendations. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate manual data entry systems while ensuring complete information transfer
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure provides techniques for leveraging Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages to provide advisories to a flight crew in order to encourage fuel savings and reduction of carbon emissions. In one aspect, a downlink ACARS message is transmitted by an aircraft in flight to a ground station. Parameter values from the downlink ACARS message are extracted. A target parameter value for the aircraft is determined based on the extracted parameter values and a tail specific offset. The tail specific offset indicates a deviation of an actual aircraft performance of the aircraft from a baseline aircraft performance for the aircraft. An uplink ACARS message containing the determined target parameter value is transmitted to the aircraft in flight. An advisory suggesting the target parameter value is presented to a flight crew of the aircraft.