Dynamic VTOL Flight Path Networks for Urban Noise And Congestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air travel within cities is limited by resource requirements, noise pollution, and infrastructure constraints, making it difficult to achieve a high volume of air travel and alleviate traffic congestion.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a transport network coordination system that optimizes routes for VTOL aircraft using onboard and offboard sensing to mitigate noise impact, incorporating environmental and network parameters to select routes that minimize noise and reduce congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If air travel volume is increased to alleviate traffic congestion, then transportation productivity improves, but noise pollution and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic routing that adapts flight paths in real-time based on current conditions. The system dynamically adjusts routes to avoid residential areas during noisy periods, changes altitude and speed profiles, and modifies flight paths based on real-time noise measurements from sensors, thereby reducing noise pollution while maintaining high transportation productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes multiple operational parameters including altitude, speed, flight path, and timing to optimize the balance between transportation efficiency and noise reduction. By varying these parameters dynamically, the system can achieve high productivity while minimizing noise impact on surrounding communities
2Productivity
If more aircraft operate in urban areas to reduce traffic congestion, then transportation capacity improves, but infrastructure resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables a single aircraft to perform multiple functions by dynamically switching between different operational modes and routes. The same aircraft can serve different destinations, operate at different altitudes, and adapt to various traffic conditions, thereby increasing transportation capacity without requiring proportional increases in infrastructure resources
Solution Approach 2:
The dynamic routing system allows the aircraft fleet to adapt its operations in real-time based on demand, weather, and traffic conditions. This dynamic flexibility maximizes the utilization of existing infrastructure resources, allowing more aircraft to operate efficiently within the same infrastructure capacity by optimizing their routes and operations continuously
3Ease of operation
If fixed routes are used for aircraft navigation, then routing simplicity is maintained, but noise impact and congestion cannot be optimized
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from fixed routes to dynamic, real-time optimized routes that automatically adapt to minimize noise impact. The routing algorithm continuously adjusts flight paths based on real-time conditions including proximity to residential areas, weather, and traffic patterns, thereby reducing noise while maintaining operational simplicity through automated decision-making
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates real-time feedback from sensors measuring noise levels, aircraft position, and environmental conditions to continuously optimize routing decisions. This feedback mechanism allows the system to learn from actual conditions and adjust routes dynamically, reducing noise impact while maintaining simple operation through automated feedback-driven optimization
Data Source
AI summary
Example embodiments are directed to generating an optimized network of flight paths and an operations volume around each of these flight paths. A network system creates a source network of paths, whereby the source network comprises a set of possible paths between two locations. The network system assigns a cost for traversing each edge of each path of the source network and aggregates the cost for traversing each edge of each path to obtain a cost for each path of the source network. Based on the cost for each path, the network system identifies a path having the lowest cost, whereby the path having the lowest cost is the optimized route between the two locations. The network system then generates an operations volume for the optimized route. The operations volume represents airspace surrounding the optimized route. The operations volume is transmitted to a further system for use.