Flight Director Assistance for Manual Trajectory Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial aircraft pilots face high workload during manual flight, which can lead to unsafe operations due to distractions and crew inattention, as existing systems do not adequately assist in maintaining trajectory guidance.
Innovation Solution
A pilot assistance system that includes processors, actuators, and sensors, which generate control signals to adjust flight control surfaces based on error metrics calculated from trajectory data and guidance data, assisting pilots in following trajectory setpoints and rejecting disturbances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autopilot system is engaged, then trajectory guidance is maintained automatically, but pilot workload is reduced excessively limiting manual control
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the level of automation assistance based on pilot input. During manual flight mode, the flight director system provides trajectory guidance indicators that move or change based on aircraft deviation from the desired path, allowing the pilot to maintain control while receiving adaptive guidance support that adjusts to the pilot's actions and the aircraft's state.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously provides feedback to the pilot through flight director indicators that show the relationship between the aircraft's current trajectory and the desired trajectory. This feedback loop allows the pilot to make corrective inputs while the system monitors and displays the deviation, enabling manual control with enhanced situational awareness and guidance.
2Ease of operation
If manual flight mode is used, then pilot control is maintained, but trajectory guidance maintenance becomes more difficult due to high workload
Solution Approach 1:
The flight director system acts as an intermediary between the autopilot's trajectory guidance capability and the pilot's manual control inputs. It translates the desired autonomous trajectory into visual guidance indicators that assist the pilot in maintaining the correct flight path without requiring full autopilot engagement, thus preserving manual control while improving trajectory maintenance reliability.
3Measurement precision
If flight director system provides continuous guidance, then trajectory accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the complex autopilot functionality into a dedicated flight director component that provides trajectory guidance indicators during manual flight. This separates the guidance generation function from the control execution function, allowing the flight director to focus on providing accurate trajectory information through simplified visual indicators without requiring the full complexity of the autopilot control system.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft includes one or more LRUs including one or more processors. The aircraft also includes one or more actuators coupled to one or more flight control surfaces. The actuator(s) are communicatively coupled to at least one of the LRU(s) to receive control signals. The aircraft also includes one or more sensors coupled to at least one of the LRU(s) and configured to generate sensor data indicative of a trajectory of the aircraft. While in a manual flight mode, the processor(s) are configured to generate trajectory guidance data based on one or more trajectory setpoints. The processor(s) are also configured to, while in the manual flight mode, determine an error metric indicating deviation between the trajectory of the aircraft and the trajectory guidance data and send a control signal based on the error metric to the one or more actuators.