In-Flight Connectivity Forecasting via Service Coverage Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft passengers experience unpredictable interruptions in internet services during flights, leading to communication losses and data loss, as existing systems fail to provide timely and accurate forecasts of internet availability along flight paths.
Innovation Solution
A connectivity forecast system that communicates with service providers to retrieve and integrate flight plans and service coverage data, generating a visual representation of available and unavailable internet services along the flight path, using GPS to update the aircraft's location and service availability in real-time, and interpolating waypoints for granular service availability predictions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system integrates multiple service coverage data from different providers, then the accuracy of service availability forecast is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments service coverage data from multiple providers into separate data layers, each representing a different service provider's coverage area. This allows the system to process and compare individual provider coverages independently while maintaining overall forecast accuracy through integration of these segmented data sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The forecast system is designed with multi-functionality to handle various service provider data formats and coverage representations universally. It can process coverage data from any provider through standardized interfaces, enabling accurate multi-provider integration without proportionally increasing system complexity.
2Reliability
If the system updates service coverage data periodically during flight, then the reliability of connectivity information is improved, but the loss of time for data processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic updates of service coverage data at predetermined intervals during the flight rather than continuous real-time updates. This periodic action maintains reliability of connectivity information by providing regular refreshes while minimizing data processing time by avoiding constant updates throughout the flight.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary processing of service coverage data before flight, pre-calculating and storing forecast information that can be displayed during flight without requiring intensive real-time processing. This preliminary action reduces in-flight data processing time while maintaining information reliability.
3Manufacturing precision
If the system interpolates waypoints to generate intervening waypoints, then the manufacturing precision of flight path analysis is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the flight path into discrete waypoints and interpolates additional intervening waypoints between them. This segmentation approach improves flight path analysis precision by creating finer granularity in the analysis while managing processing complexity through systematic division of the path into manageable segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies interpolation to generate only the necessary number of intervening waypoints required for adequate analysis precision, rather than excessively dense waypoint generation. This partial action achieves sufficient manufacturing precision for connectivity forecasting while avoiding unnecessary processing complexity from excessive waypoint generation.
Data Source
AI summary
System and method for forecasting availability of network services during flight is provided. The system of the disclosed invention utilizes flight plans and coverage data to provide users aboard aircraft with status of satellite Internet services. The system couples the flight plans with the coverage data to provide information regarding how the flight path of the aircraft will affect availability of Internet services during the flight. The method includes retrieving a flight plan to generate a flight path having one or more waypoints, transmitting one or more service coverage data from service providers, coupling the flight path with the service coverage data to determine portions of the flight path in which the network service is unavailable, and delivering to the users information about the service unavailable portions of the flight path.