Aircraft Intent Segmentation for Unambiguous Trajectory Prediction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for predicting an aircraft's four-dimensional trajectory are ambiguous due to insufficient information, particularly in air traffic management and autonomous vehicle navigation, as flight intent does not unambiguously define the aircraft's motion and configuration, leading to multiple possible trajectories.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method generates a description of aircraft intent using a formal language, parsing flight intent into parametric aircraft intent by specifying parameter ranges and optimizing these parameters to determine an optimal trajectory that closes all degrees of freedom, incorporating user preferences and operational constraints to ensure a unique trajectory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If flight intent is used to describe aircraft motion, then operational flexibility is maintained, but trajectory prediction becomes ambiguous due to insufficient information to close all degrees of freedom
Solution Approach 1:
The flight intent description is segmented into multiple flight segments, each representing a specific phase of flight with defined start and end conditions. This segmentation allows the system to break down the complex trajectory prediction problem into manageable segments, where each segment can be analyzed and optimized independently while maintaining overall operational flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms the qualitative flight intent description into quantitative parametric aircraft intent by defining specific parameters for each flight segment (e.g., speed, altitude, heading, configuration states). This parameter transformation closes the degrees of freedom by providing concrete numerical values that enable unambiguous trajectory prediction while still allowing operational flexibility through parameter optimization.
2Adaptability or versatility
If parametric aircraft intent with parameter ranges is used, then operational preferences are accommodated, but computation time increases due to optimization requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary optimization by pre-calculating optimal parameter values within the defined ranges before final trajectory computation. By establishing optimal parameters in advance based on operational preferences and constraints, the system reduces the computational burden during real-time trajectory prediction, thus accommodating operational preferences without excessive computation time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system optimizes only the critical parameters that have the greatest impact on trajectory prediction and operational preferences, rather than optimizing all parameters equally. This partial optimization approach maintains operational flexibility for preferred parameters while reducing overall computation time by focusing computational resources on the most influential parameters.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention provides a computer-implemented method of generating a description of aircraft intent expressed in a formal language that provides an unambiguous description of an aircraft's intended motion and configuration during a period of flight. A flight intent description is parsed to provide instances of flight intent that span a flight segment, the flight segments together spanning the period of flight. The parsed flight intent is converted into parametric aircraft intent by generating an associated flight segment description for each flight segment that comprises instances of flight intent to close all associated degrees of freedom of motion and of configuration of the aircraft. At least some flight segment descriptions contain a parameter range, and the method further comprises optimising the parametric aircraft intent by determining an optimal value for the parameter of each parameter range.