Aircraft Trajectory Monitoring System for Flight Deviation Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current flight management systems (FMS) fail to anticipate and correct trajectory discontinuities and performance discrepancies, leading to safety and efficiency issues, as they do not account for real-time external conditions and actual aircraft performance, resulting in potential deviations from the reference trajectory.
Innovation Solution
A method that extrapolates flight parameters over a specified time interval, using measured actual values and assuming constant conditions, to detect potential deviations from the reference trajectory and generate new guidance instructions compatible with the aircraft's performance, implemented through a system with short-term and medium-term monitoring sub-modules to limit false alarms and adapt alarms to display modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the reference trajectory is calculated in advance based on nominal flight conditions and forecast meteorological conditions, then the flight plan can be established, but the trajectory does not account for actual aircraft performance and real-time external conditions, leading to discrepancies and inaccuracies during flight
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary checks of the reference trajectory before flight execution, identifying potential discontinuities and performance incompatibilities in advance. This allows the trajectory to be validated against actual aircraft performance characteristics and current external conditions before the flight begins, preventing inaccurate trajectory guidance during flight.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors actual flight parameters and compares them with the reference trajectory, providing feedback when deviations or incompatibilities are detected. This feedback mechanism enables real-time detection of trajectory issues and allows for corrective actions to maintain accurate and reliable flight guidance throughout the flight.
2Device complexity
If the flight management system does not verify trajectory continuity and compatibility with aircraft performance, then the system complexity is reduced, but trajectory discontinuities and safety issues are not detected
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary verification of trajectory continuity and compatibility with aircraft performance characteristics before flight execution. By checking for discontinuities and performance incompatibilities in advance, the system ensures flight safety without requiring complex real-time intervention mechanisms during flight.
Solution Approach 2:
The flight management system performs self-verification of its own trajectory data by automatically checking for discontinuities and compatibility with aircraft performance. This self-service capability enables the system to detect and alert operators to trajectory issues without requiring external monitoring systems, maintaining safety while controlling complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If the system uses forecast meteorological conditions and nominal aircraft performance for trajectory calculation, then the flight plan can be created, but actual flight conditions differ significantly, causing trajectory deviations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary validation of the reference trajectory against actual aircraft performance characteristics and current external conditions before flight execution. This advance checking identifies potential discrepancies between forecast and actual conditions, allowing operators to adjust the trajectory or be alerted to expected deviations before they occur during flight.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and a system for monitoring the following of a reference trajectory by an aircraft. The values that flight parameters of the aircraft will have on completion of a time interval ΔT are extrapolated, the time interval ΔT corresponding to a duration less than the remaining duration of validity of a guidance instruction presently applied by the aircraft and during which the instruction remains unchanged, by measuring at the start of the time interval ΔT the actual values of the flight parameters as well as external conditions on which the performance of the aircraft depends, then by making the assumption that the instruction values of the flight parameters will remain constant throughout the time interval ΔT, an alarm being raised if the extrapolated values of the flight parameters are not substantially equal to theoretical values of the flight parameters deduced from the reference trajectory on completion of the time interval considered ΔT or if they are not compatible with the actual performance of the aircraft having regard to the measured external conditions.