Jet Stream Data Projection for Cruise Level Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft flight plans are not effectively adjusted to account for favorable or unfavorable jet streams, leading to increased fuel consumption, reduced performance, and safety risks due to the lack of systems that can identify and utilize beneficial jet streams or avoid detrimental ones.
Innovation Solution
A system that retrieves and processes jet stream data to identify flight plan modifications that maximize the benefits of favorable jet streams, including adjusting cruise levels and flight paths to optimize aircraft performance and fuel efficiency, using processors configured by programming instructions on non-transient computer readable media to project jet stream data around the flight path and display recommended modifications on a user interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If flight plans are not adjusted to account for jet streams, then fuel consumption increases and performance reduces, but implementing such adjustment systems requires additional complexity in data processing and system integration
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments jet stream data into discrete parameters (vector, altitude, width, thickness) and processes them through modular computational steps (retrieval, projection, identification, display), making the complex atmospheric data manageable and actionable for flight plan adjustments
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of jet stream conditions along the proposed flight path before finalizing the flight plan, projecting jet stream data and identifying favorable modifications in advance to optimize fuel efficiency before departure
2Loss of time
If flight plans are not adjusted to account for jet streams, then ETA accuracy reduces due to unfavorable jet streams, but implementing real-time adjustment systems increases computational requirements and data processing needs
Solution Approach 1:
The system projects jet stream data around the proposed flight path as points of interest in three-dimensional space (latitude, longitude, altitude), enabling comprehensive analysis of jet stream interactions with the flight path without requiring continuous complex simulations at every point
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method in an aircraft for identifying a flight plan modification that has a favorable impact from jet streams is provided. The method includes: retrieving an entered flight plan for the aircraft; retrieving available jet stream data identifying one or more jet streams in proximity to a proposed flight path from the entered flight plan, wherein the jet stream data includes jet stream vector, altitude, width, and thickness data; projecting the jet stream data around the proposed flight path as points of interest around the proposed flight path; identifying a flight plan modification that has the most favorable impact from jet streams at the points of interest; and displaying the identified flight plan modification on a user interface.