Aircraft Flight Path Smoothing for Altitude and Velocity Constraints

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Solution Overview

Problem

Aircrafts face difficulties in following predetermined flight paths due to physical limitations that prevent them from achieving desired altitudes and velocities, leading to inefficient flight paths and excessive processing power consumption.

Innovation Solution

A system that identifies a flight path with multiple segments, calculates distances to reach desired velocities or altitudes, and adjusts waypoints to comply with aircraft constraints, minimizing segment numbers and iterations while smoothing the flight path efficiently.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If the flight path follows the desired altitude and velocity profile, then the flight path accuracy is improved, but the aircraft cannot achieve the desired altitudes and velocities due to physical limitations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflight path accuracyVSAvoidconstraint compliance

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-calculates the distance required to reach desired velocities and altitudes before generating the flight path. By determining these distances in advance and using them to adjust waypoint positions, the system ensures that the flight path is designed to be achievable within aircraft constraints from the outset, rather than attempting to follow an unattainable profile and then correcting errors

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system modifies the flight path parameters (waypoint positions and altitudes) based on calculated distances and aircraft performance constraints. By dynamically adjusting these parameters to reflect what the aircraft can actually achieve, the system resolves the contradiction between following the desired profile and respecting physical limitations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If the flight path is smoothed to comply with aircraft constraints, then the constraint compliance is improved, but the processing power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconstraint complianceVSAvoidprocessing power consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs smoothing operations in a preliminary manner by pre-calculating the distances needed to reach desired velocities and altitudes. This upfront calculation allows the system to generate a constraint-compliant flight path in a single pass rather than requiring multiple iterative smoothing operations, thereby reducing processing power consumption

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies smoothing selectively at specific points along the flight path where constraint violations are likely to occur, rather than uniformly smoothing the entire path. By focusing computational effort only where needed based on the calculated distances and constraint requirements, the system achieves constraint compliance with minimal processing overhead

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Manufacturing precision

If multiple segments and iterations are used to generate the flight path, then the flight path accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflight path accuracyVSAvoidsegment number

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses the calculated distances to directly determine optimal waypoint positions and segment divisions. By basing segment creation on quantitative distance requirements rather than arbitrary divisions, the system achieves accurate flight paths with fewer, more meaningful segments, reducing overall system complexity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The system pre-determines the number and positions of segments based on distance calculations before generating the full flight path. This preliminary structuring allows subsequent processing to work with a already-optimized segment framework, avoiding the need for multiple iterative refinement passes and reducing the complexity of path generation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS12175872B2Intelligent altitude and velocity smoothing for aircraft paths and terrain-following altitude profile generation for route planning

Publication Date: 2024.12.24 THE BOEING CO

AI summary

Technology identifies a flight path, where the flight path includes a plurality of segments that each include a waypoint, identifies a flight profile that includes one or more of desired velocities or desired altitudes and calculates a first distance from a beginning of the flight path to reach the one or more of the desired velocities or the desired altitudes to comply with a constraint. The technology further identifies a first waypoint from the plurality of waypoints based on the first distance and adjusts the first waypoint to reach the one or more of the desired velocities or the desired altitudes.