Terrain-Deconflicted Custom Approach Procedure Construction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing custom procedure systems for aircraft do not effectively integrate terrain information during the entry of custom or contingency procedures, leading to potential terrain conflicts that can exacerbate stressful situations for pilots, particularly in high-workload scenarios, as alerts and warnings are only provided after the procedure is submitted and in flight.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow pilots to enter custom procedures with real-time terrain integration, assessing potential conflicts and providing advisory recommendations to adjust waypoints before submission, ensuring a terrain-deconflicted flight path by iteratively reconstructing the flight path to avoid conflicts, using a user interface and processor to receive waypoints, construct a 3D flight path, assess terrain data, and generate outputs for conflict avoidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If terrain information is integrated in real-time during custom procedure entry, then safety and terrain conflict detection are improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs terrain conflict detection during the custom procedure entry phase, before the procedure is executed. This preliminary action allows pilots to identify and resolve terrain conflicts during planning, avoiding the need for complex real-time detection during flight execution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that handles terrain data integration and conflict detection between the pilot's waypoint input and the FMS procedure submission. This intermediary layer manages the complexity by encapsulating terrain assessment algorithms and presenting simplified conflict information to the pilot.
2Reliability
If terrain assessment is performed iteratively during procedure construction, then terrain conflict detection is improved, but time required for procedure entry increases
Solution Approach 1:
The terrain assessment process operates continuously and iteratively as the pilot enters each waypoint, providing immediate feedback rather than performing a single comprehensive check after all waypoints are entered. This continuous assessment helps pilots understand terrain constraints progressively, potentially reducing overall procedure entry time by avoiding later revisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides immediate feedback to the pilot when terrain conflicts are detected during procedure entry, allowing pilots to adjust waypoints in real-time. This feedback mechanism prevents the accumulation of multiple terrain conflicts that would require iterative revisions, thereby reducing total procedure entry time.
3Reliability
If terrain data is obtained and assessed for every custom procedure, then terrain safety is improved, but data processing load and system resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system focuses terrain data retrieval and assessment only on the specific geographic regions relevant to the custom procedure being constructed, rather than processing global terrain data. This local approach reduces data processing load while maintaining comprehensive terrain safety coverage for the procedure area.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for creating a custom approach procedure are provided. The systems and methods receive a plurality of user entered waypoints constituting a provisional custom approach procedure from a user interface. A three-dimensional (3D) flight path is constructed connecting the way points with the constraint that the 3D flight path is a descent path with no climb segments. Terrain data along the 3D flight path is obtained from a terrain database. The 3D flight path is assessed with respect to the terrain data to detect one or more terrain conflicts. An output is generated and provided to the user interface based on the detected one or more terrain conflicts.