Aircraft Trajectory Meteorological Data Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems face limitations in accurately predicting an aircraft's trajectory due to the large volume of meteorological data, limited memory and bandwidth, and the inability to account for weather changes between planned waypoints, leading to errors in estimated time of arrival and fuel burn calculations.
Innovation Solution
A method that selects a subset of relevant wind and temperature data by filtering and interpolating data points along the aircraft's trajectory, using pseudo-waypoints to reduce errors in wind profile predictions, and optimizing data transmission to minimize communication costs and increase accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If meteorological data is provided at many points along the aircraft trajectory, then the accuracy of trajectory prediction is improved, but the memory requirements and bandwidth increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential meteorological data parameters (wind velocity, wind direction, temperature) needed for accurate trajectory prediction, discarding redundant information. This selective extraction maintains prediction accuracy while significantly reducing data volume for storage and transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The trajectory is divided into segments with waypoints at strategic locations where meteorological data is collected. This segmentation allows the system to capture essential weather variations along the flight path without requiring continuous data collection at every possible point, thus reducing overall data volume while maintaining accuracy.
2Quantity of substance
If meteorological data is provided at fewer points along the aircraft trajectory, then the memory requirements and bandwidth are reduced, but the accuracy of trajectory prediction deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing of meteorological data on the ground before transmission to the aircraft. This includes selecting relevant waypoints, filtering essential parameters, and preparing interpolated data structures in advance, so that the aircraft receives pre-processed, optimized data that maximizes accuracy within bandwidth constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The ground station acts as an intermediary that processes and optimizes meteorological data before transmission. It performs data filtering, waypoint selection, and interpolation calculations, transforming raw comprehensive weather data into a condensed format that preserves predictive accuracy while reducing transmission requirements.
3Device complexity
If traditional waypoint selection based on ground navigation aids is used, then the system complexity is reduced, but the ability to account for weather changes between planned waypoints deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The waypoint selection system transitions from a static, pre-defined structure based solely on ground navigation aids to a dynamic system that adapts waypoint locations and density based on detected weather changes. When significant weather variations are detected between waypoints, additional waypoints are automatically inserted to capture the changing conditions, improving reliability without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the parameter of waypoint density and location based on weather gradient analysis. In regions with rapid weather changes, waypoint density increases; in stable regions, density decreases. This adaptive parameter adjustment improves weather change detection accuracy while maintaining reasonable system complexity.
4Loss of energy
If wind and temperature data is not updated during long cruise legs, then the bandwidth usage is reduced, but the errors in forecasted wind and time of arrival computations increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous data transmission during cruise legs, the system implements periodic updates at strategically selected intervals and waypoints. This periodic action maintains acceptable wind forecast accuracy by providing updates when most needed while significantly reducing bandwidth consumption compared to continuous transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The aircraft's flight management system performs interpolation and extrapolation of wind data between received update points, using onboard computational resources to maintain accurate forecasts without requiring constant ground station transmissions. This self-service approach reduces bandwidth dependency while preserving forecast accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of selecting and storing a subset of available meteorological data (100) along a predicted trajectory (44) of an aircraft and relevant to the predicted trajectory includes determining pseudo-waypoints (70) and related meteorological data pertaining to a level segment of the trajectory (50), and selecting the meteorological data points (110) minimizing weighted fuel burn and time error pertaining to a non-level segment of the trajectory (54).