Predictive Flight Envelope Protection Using Trajectory Viability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional aircraft flight envelope protection systems operate in a piecemeal fashion, lacking interoperability and failing to provide comprehensive protection against flight envelope violations and terrain avoidance hazards, especially during take-off, landing, and in varying flight conditions such as high altitude or engine failure scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A predictive aircraft flight envelope protection system using a kinematic-energy model that calculates multiple trajectories to assess and mitigate threats, employing a threat envelope data structure to parameterize trigger conditions and recovery strategies, and automatically initiating protective responses when viable trajectories are depleted.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple disparate protection systems are deployed to cover different aspects of flight envelope protection, then comprehensive protection coverage is improved, but system complexity and lack of interoperability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple disparate protection systems (ground proximity warning, flight envelope protection, terrain avoidance) into a single integrated predictive protection system. The processor evaluates multiple potential trajectories simultaneously and provides unified protection across all flight conditions, eliminating the need for separate systems to operate in isolation and resolving the interoperability issues between conventional systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The predictive protection system performs multiple functions through a single unified architecture: it provides ground proximity warning, flight envelope protection, and terrain avoidance capabilities simultaneously. The system evaluates trajectories against multiple threat types (ground collision, flight envelope violations) using a common predictive model, making the system universal and eliminating the need for separate specialized systems.
2Device complexity
If conventional rules-of-thumb methods are used for ground proximity warning, then system simplicity is maintained, but accuracy and adaptability to varying terrain and flight conditions deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation of multiple potential trajectories before a threat actually materializes. By predicting where the aircraft will be in the future along different trajectories and evaluating those positions against terrain and flight envelope constraints, the system provides accurate warnings in advance, rather than relying on simple rules that react to current conditions only.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts to varying terrain conditions and flight scenarios by continuously evaluating trajectories based on current aircraft state, terrain data, and flight constraints. Unlike static rules-of-thumb, the predictive model adjusts its assessment based on real-time conditions, providing accurate protection whether the aircraft is climbing, descending, or flying level over varying terrain.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If protective systems are disabled during landing to reduce false alarms, then false alarm reduction is achieved, but flight envelope protection during critical phases deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system evaluates trajectories preliminarily to determine if a threat actually exists before issuing warnings. During landing approaches, the predictive model assesses whether the aircraft's intended trajectory will violate flight envelope constraints or collide with terrain, providing accurate warnings only when genuine threats are detected, thus avoiding false alarms while maintaining protection.
Data Source
AI summary
The aircraft threat envelope protection system employs a threat envelope data structure in a computer-readable medium that stores at least one trigger condition for each of a plurality of different types of threats associated with the aircraft, and modeled using a common schema. A processor computes plural different projected trajectories representing different possible aircraft paths through spacetime. The processor associates at least some of the plurality of the threats to specific trigger points in spacetime along each of the projected trajectories. The processor will deprecate ones of the projected trajectories when they are deemed not viable to recover from a threat. The processor initiates an aircraft protective response when all projected trajectories but one have been deprecated and the aircraft is within a predetermined proximity to the closest trigger point in spacetime along the non-deprecated trajectory.