VTOL Weather Data Fusion for Urban Air Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the urban air mobility (UAM) environment, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft lack detailed meteorological information, particularly regarding wakes, turbulences, and shear, which complicates safe flight operations and fleet management, as human situational awareness may not be sufficient for decision-making.
Innovation Solution
A system that integrates observed weather data from sensors at vertiports and onboard VTOL aircraft, fusing this data to produce a comprehensive weather map, facilitating informed flight operations and efficient fleet management through a graphical user interface (GUI).
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If meteorological information is obtained from traditional airport stations (METAR), then basic weather data is available, but detailed local conditions (wakes, turbulences, shear) around vertiports are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the meteorological monitoring system into multiple distributed sensors placed at vertiports and onboard VTOL aircraft, rather than relying on a single centralized airport station. This segmentation enables collection of detailed local weather data including wakes, turbulences, and shear conditions specific to each vertiport location and flight path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a new dimension to meteorological monitoring by deploying sensors both at ground-level vertiports and onboard moving VTOL aircraft. This multi-dimensional approach captures weather conditions from multiple spatial perspectives, providing comprehensive data on local atmospheric conditions that traditional single-point airport stations cannot detect.
2Extent of automation
If human operators make flight operation decisions, then operational flexibility is maintained, but situational awareness may be insufficient for safe decision-making
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where meteorological data from sensors is continuously collected, processed, and presented to operators through a user interface. This feedback loop provides operators with real-time situational awareness of weather conditions, enabling more informed and reliable decision-making while maintaining human operational flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an automated weather data processing and presentation system as an intermediary between raw sensor data and human operators. This intermediary system aggregates, analyzes, and visualizes meteorological information, enhancing operator situational awareness and supporting safer flight operation decisions without replacing human judgment.
3Loss of information
If multiple sensor data sources are integrated, then comprehensive weather coverage is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data from multiple sensor sources (vertiport sensors and onboard aircraft sensors) into a unified weather information system. By combining these distributed data sources, the system achieves comprehensive weather coverage across the UAM environment while presenting integrated information to operators, reducing the perceived complexity through unified data presentation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for supporting flight operations of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft in an urban air mobility (UAM) environment that includes a vertiport. The method includes accessing first observed weather data obtained by sensors located on-site at the vertiport and second observed weather data obtained by sensors onboard VTOL aircraft. A data fusion is performed to integrate the first observed weather data and the second observed weather data to produce a collection of weather data that describes the weather in an environment of the vertiport, and an environment of the VTOL aircraft. And a weather map is produced based on the collection of weather data, the weather map illustrating one or more meteorological features of the weather in the environment of the vertiport and/or the VTOL aircraft, the weather map produced for use in supporting flight operations of the VTOL aircraft.