Aircraft Flight Path Smoothing for Feasible Altitude and Velocity Profiles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional aircraft flight path smoothing processes often result in inefficient flight paths due to physical limitations, as they fail to optimize altitude and velocity profiles, leading to excessive segmentation and high processing power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A system that identifies a flight path with multiple segments, adjusts waypoints to comply with aircraft constraints, and iteratively smooths the path to minimize variances from desired altitudes and velocities, reducing unnecessary segmentation and processing power.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional flight path smoothing processes are used, then the flight path can be generated, but the path becomes difficult or impossible for the aircraft to follow due to physical limitations and excessive segmentation
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the flight path by iteratively modifying waypoint positions and segment characteristics based on aircraft performance constraints. The path is not static but adapts through multiple smoothing iterations to achieve feasibility while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes key parameters including segment lengths, waypoint coordinates, and path geometry to transform an idealized path into one that respects aircraft physical limitations. Parameters are adjusted iteratively until the path becomes followable.
2Reliability
If the flight path is smoothed to comply with aircraft constraints, then the path becomes more feasible, but processing power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary smoothing iterations before final path generation, progressively refining the path to reduce the computational burden of achieving constraint compliance later. This staged approach prevents excessive processing power consumption during final path optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The smoothing process continues iteratively until convergence criteria are met, maintaining continuous refinement of the path. This ensures constraint compliance is achieved efficiently without unnecessary additional processing cycles.
3Productivity
If the flight path follows desired altitude and velocity profiles, then the path optimality improves, but the path becomes difficult or impossible for the aircraft to follow
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a dynamic balance between optimal performance and physical feasibility by iteratively adjusting the path. The final path maintains efficiency while incorporating necessary modifications for aircraft followability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different smoothing strategies to different segments of the flight path based on local characteristics and aircraft constraints. Each segment is optimized locally to balance efficiency and followability requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
Technology identifies a flight path (104, 152, 154, 162, 164, 172, 174, 190, 192, 226, 302, 346, 348, 366, 416), where the flight path (104, 152, 154, 162, 164, 172, 174, 190, 192, 226, 302, 346, 348, 366, 416) includes a plurality of segments (152, 154, 162, 164, 172, 174, 190, 192, 242, 244, 246, 248, 252, 304, 306, 346, 346a, 346b, 348, 362, 364, 406a-406f) that each include a waypoint (114a-114i, 230, 232, 234, 314, 316, 318, 354, 404a-404f), identifies a flight profile (102, 112a-112i, 156, 168, 196, 228, 312, 352, 368) that includes one or more of desired velocities or desired altitudes and calculates a first distance (D1) from a beginning of the flight path (104, 152, 154, 162, 164, 172, 174, 190, 192, 226, 302, 346, 348, 366, 416) to reach the one or more of the desired velocities or the desired altitudes to comply with a constraint. The technology further identifies a first waypoint (114d) from the plurality of waypoints (114a-114i, 200, 230, 232, 234, 314, 316, 318, 354, 404a-404f) based on the first distance (D1) and adjusts the first waypoint (114d) to reach the one or more of the desired velocities or the desired altitudes.