FMS Leg-Type Entry Using Compatibility Matrix for Replanning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flight management systems (FMS) in aircraft are limited by the number of leg types that can be manually entered or uplinked, restricting flexibility and adaptability in modifying flight plans, especially during mid-flight adjustments.
Innovation Solution
The FMS is enhanced to accept a plurality of leg types beyond the typical five, utilizing a matrix to determine compatible transitions between legs, allowing for more flexible flight plan generation and mid-flight modifications, and incorporating uplinked flight plans with enhanced data inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the FMS accepts only a limited number of leg types (typically five), then the system complexity and computational load are reduced, but the flexibility and adaptability in modifying flight plans are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The FMS is enhanced to accept a plurality of leg types beyond the typical five, allowing the system to handle diverse flight plan requirements. The matrix structure enables universal compatibility checking across multiple leg types, making the system more versatile while maintaining organized complexity through structured data relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a matrix nested within the FMS architecture, where the matrix contains compatibility data for multiple leg types. This nested structure allows the system to manage complex leg type relationships in an organized manner, storing compatibility information efficiently within the existing FMS data structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the FMS accepts a plurality of leg types with enhanced flexibility, then the adaptability in handling unexpected events is improved, but the computational requirements and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The compatibility matrix is pre-populated with compatibility data for multiple leg types before flight plan execution. This preliminary action stores compatibility relationships in advance, allowing the FMS to quickly retrieve and process compatibility information during flight operations without performing complex real-time calculations, thus reducing computational requirements during actual use.
3Ease of operation
If manual entry of multiple leg types is enabled, then the ease of operation for pilot input is improved, but the potential for input errors and the time required for data entry increase
Solution Approach 1:
The FMS provides feedback to the pilot through the matrix structure, which automatically checks compatibility between sequentially entered legs. When a pilot enters a leg type, the system references the pre-stored compatibility data and immediately validates whether the entered leg is compatible with the previous leg, providing instant feedback and reducing the need for manual verification and correction of incompatible sequences.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure relates to an FMS configured to accept a plurality of flight legs (beyond the standard five) for consideration when developing a flight plan. Allowing an FMS to receive a plurality of flight legs, beyond just five, is achieved by calculating a lateral trajectory and a vertical trajectory based on the current state of the flight path. This may be done mid-flight or initially when a given flight plan is entered by the pilot. The sequence of leg types that are entered may be used to generate a predicted final trajectory and output a GUI (graphical user interface) of the predicted final trajectory.