Configuration-Sensitive Range Rings for Aircraft Glide Planning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to accurately determine the range of an aircraft across various conditions and configurations, which is crucial for emergency and non-emergency situations, particularly affecting the ability to find a safe landing site.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates and displays range rings on an aircraft's display device, incorporating user inputs and aircraft data to calculate and visualize the aircraft's range based on different conditions and configurations, including landing gear, wing flaps, speed brakes, and glide conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a system calculates and displays range rings based on multiple aircraft configurations and conditions, then the accuracy and usefulness of range determination is improved, but the system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the range determination problem by creating separate calculation models for different aircraft configurations (landing gear up/down, flaps at various positions, speed brake positions). Each configuration has its own pre-established relationship model between aircraft state and range, allowing the system to select and apply the appropriate model without complex real-time calculations for all possible configurations simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing relationship models for various aircraft configurations before flight. These models capture the complex aerodynamic and performance characteristics for each configuration state, so that during actual flight, the system only needs to identify the current configuration and retrieve the corresponding pre-calculated range information, significantly reducing real-time computational complexity.
2Measurement precision
If the system accounts for multiple drag sources (landing gear, flaps, speed brakes) and thrust variations, then the range estimation accuracy is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring all parameters increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a universal approach by creating comprehensive relationship models that simultaneously account for multiple drag sources and thrust variations. Rather than requiring separate sensors and measurement systems for each parameter, the models integrate the effects of landing gear, flaps, speed brakes, and engine thrust into unified configuration-based relationships that can be determined from standard aircraft system states already available during flight.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system provides customized range rings for different user configurations, then the adaptability and versatility of the system is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic adaptability by allowing users to configure their preferred aircraft settings (landing gear position, flap positions, speed brake position) and having the system dynamically generate and display customized range rings based on these configurations. The system can switch between different configuration models and update the displayed range rings in real-time as aircraft state changes, providing versatile customization without requiring separate hardware systems for each configuration type.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system for generating and displaying one or more range rings on an aircraft includes a processor (106), a display device (108), a communication device (118), and computerreadable memory. The display device (108) contains a user interface. In operation, the system receives a user configuration input via the user interface of the display device (108). The system receives aircraft data from a connected aircraft avionics system via the communication device (118). The system calculates one or more ranges of the aircraft based upon the user configuration input and/or the aircraft data. The system generates one or more range rings based upon the one or more ranges of the aircraft, wherein the one or more range rings are visual depictions of the one or more ranges of the aircraft. The system displays the one or more range rings on the display device (108).