Flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method

Abstract

A flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, which belongs to the field of air traffic management, comprises: acquiring a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight first, establishing a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model by taking a minimum fuel consumption, a shortest flight time and a minimum number of flight level changes as objectives, further designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model, and finally solving the model to form a plurality of strategies of flight trajectory multi-stage decision.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention belongs to the field of air traffic management, and more particularly, to a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method applicable to air traffic control and air traffic flow management.

BACKGROUND

Trajectory planning in air traffic management generally optimizes flight trajectory with certain objectives according to the conditions of airspace structure, aircraft performance and flight restrictions. The main methods comprise trajectory planning based on airspace grid, trajectory planning based on geometrical shapes in restricted areas, trajectory planning based on fixed waypoints, trajectory planning based on standard entry and departure procedures, and trajectory planning based on free flight. Most of the existing researches aim at shortening the flying range and flight time, reducing flight conflicts, etc., and pay little attention to factors such as flight level changes and airborne waiting, so the trajectory planning is difficult to meet the requirements of four-dimensional trajectory management. In addition, the trajectory planning is mostly used in unmanned aerial vehicle management, but seldom used in control automation systems and air traffic flow management systems. Dynamic planning is an effective method to solve the optimization problem of multi-stage decision-making process, and has a good application effect in the optimal route, resource allocation and other issues. According to the airspace structure and flight process, the flight trajectory is divided into several stages, and a dynamic planning method is used to optimize the decision of each stage to quickly form a decision sequence of trajectory planning. At present, there is a lack of a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning implementation method oriented to four-dimensional trajectory management.

SUMMARY

Object of the present invention: the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is: establishing a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model by taking a minimum fuel consumption, a shortest flight time and a minimum number of flight level changes as objectives respectively according to conditions such as a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight, rebuilding the route network structure in the available airspace of the flight according to a solving need, designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model, realizing quick generation of a single trajectory planning strategy, reasonably arranging a flight route and a flight level for the flight, and providing an auxiliary decision for scientifically making a flight plan and improving a rerouting efficiency.

In order to solve the foregoing technical problem, the present invention discloses a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, comprising the following steps of:

step 1: acquiring a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight;

step 2: establishing a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model;

step 3: designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model; and

step 4: solving the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model established in the step 2 by using the algorithm designed in the step 3 to form a plurality of strategies of flight trajectory multi-stage decision.

The step 2 comprises:

step 2.1: constructing a stage variable, a state variable and a state transition equation;

step 2.2: establishing a basic equation by taking a minimum fuel consumption as an objective;

step 2.3: establishing a basic equation by taking a shortest flight time as an objective; and

step 2.4: establishing a basic equation by taking a minimum number of flight level changes as an objective.

The constructing the stage variable, the state variable and the state transition equation in the step 2.1 is expressed as:

the stage variable k is equal to 1, 2, 3, . . . , and N, N is a maximum number of flight segments comprised in each route from an entry point to an exit point of the available airspace, and both the entry point and the exit point of the available airspace are unique and not identical;

the state variable s_k denotes a waypoint at the beginning of a stage k, and the state variable s_k has a state set that S_k={P_kⁱ} (i=1, 2, . . . ), P_kⁱ denotes a waypoint in the available airspace of the flight, at least one element in S_k is an immediately preceding waypoint of any element in S_k+1 and has a unique flight segment connection, all elements in S_k+1 have a corresponding element in S_k which is an immediately preceding waypoint of any element in S_k+1 and has a unique flight segment connection; for any two non-adjacent state variables s_k and S_k+a, (a≥2), when S_k comprises an element which is an immediately preceding waypoint of an element in S_k+a and has a unique flight segment connection, a−1 virtual waypoints equally distributed by distance are set on the flight segment, dividing the flight segment into a segments, flight level configurations of each flight segment are still the same as the flight segment, and each virtual waypoint belongs to a corresponding state set respectively; and

the state transition equation is that S_k+1=u_k(s_k), wherein u_k(s_k) denotes a decision variable in the k stage when the state is s_k.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the minimum fuel consumption as the objective in the step 2.2 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}{C}_k^l\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, D_k(s_k,u_k) denotes a length of a flight segment between a waypoint of the state s_k and a waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting a decision u_k, C_k^l (s_k,u_k) denotes a fuel consumption per unit time of a first flight level of the flight segment of the flight between the waypoint of the state s_k and the waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting the decision u_k, 1≤l≤L_k, and L_k is a number of flight layers of the flight segment between the waypoint of the state s_k and the waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting the decision u_k; and v denotes an average ground velocity of the flight, and f_k(s_k) denotes an optimal indicator function.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the shortest flight time as the objective in the step 2.3 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}+T_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, T_k(s_k,u_k) denotes an airborne waiting time required for flow control of a waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after a waypoint of the state s_k adopts a decision u_k.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the minimum number of flight level changes as the objective in the step 2.4 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{H_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, H_k(s_k,u_k) denotes a flight level difference between a waypoint of the state s_k adopting a decision u_k and a decision u_k−1 of the previous stage, which is valued as 0 when the flight levels are the same, and valued as 1 when the flight levels are different.

The step 3 comprises:

step 3.1: rebuilding the route network structure in the available airspace of the flight according to a solving need, wherein a flight segment exists between any waypoint P_kⁱ in the state set that S_k={P_kⁱ} (i=1, 2, . . . ) of the state variable s_k and a waypoint P_k+1^j in a set that Sk S_k+1={P_k+1^j} (j=1, 2, . . . ) of next stage s_k+1, the flight segment has L_kⁱ flight levels, and a flight segment with the waypoint P_k+1^j as an origin has L_k+1^j flight levels in total; generating L_kⁱ−1 virtual waypoints P_kⁱ for the waypoint P_kⁱ; and generating L_k+1^j−1 virtual waypoints P_k+1^j for the waypoint P_k+1^j; wherein flight segments are generated between each original and virtual waypoint P_kⁱ and each original and virtual waypoint P_k+1^j, each flight segment has the same distance and airborne waiting time required for flow control as the original flight segment, has and only has one flight level, and the flight segment between the same original or virtual waypoint P_kⁱ and the original or virtual waypoint P_k+1^j has the same flight level;

step 3.2: normalizing and weighting each objective to form a dimensionless single objective, and establishing the basic equation as follows:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\{{\omega }_{1}G\left(\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}{C}_k^l\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)+{\omega }_{2}G\left(\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}+T_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0+{\omega }_{3}G\left(H_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\},\end{array}$ $k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1,$

wherein, G( ) denotes a normalized function, so that each objective value is in the same order of magnitude, and ω₁, ω₂ and ω₃ denote a weight coefficient of each objective respectively; and

step 3.3: constantly changing the weight coefficient of each objective to form different weight coefficient combinations, and solving the single-objective basic equation established in the step 3.2 by using a reverse order method of dynamic planning.

According to the result of the step 4, refined flight trajectory planning or rerouting planning is carried out, and the trajectory management is carried out by a control automation system and an air traffic flow management system.

The flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method according to the present invention is loaded and operated in a processing server of an air traffic flow management system (ATFM system) or a corresponding computer of an air traffic control system (ATC system).

Beneficial Effects

1. An implementation method for refined flight trajectory planning or rerouting planning based on a trajectory operating mode is provided; and

2. a technical support is provided for the development of software such as trajectory management in the control automation system and the air traffic flow management system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The advantages of the above and/or other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent by further explaining the present invention with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a route network structure for flight trajectory dynamic planning.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of specific implementations of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of rebuilding the route network structure for flight trajectory dynamic planning.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, comprises the following steps of:

• • (1) acquiring a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight;
  • (2) establishing a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model;
  • (3) designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model; and
  • (4) solving the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model established in the step (2) by using the algorithm designed in the step (3) to form a plurality of strategies of flight trajectory multi-stage decision.

As shown in FIG. 2, during the flight, a plurality of flight segment combinations exist in the route network structure in the available airspace as optional trajectories, and each flight segment may possibly have a plurality of flight levels. Flow control is implemented in some waypoints due to flight deployment and other reasons, so that flights passing through these waypoints may have a certain airborne waiting time, which needs to optimize the selection of flight segments to realize the best trajectory planning.

The present invention discloses a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, the specific implementation process of which is shown in FIG. 3, comprising the following steps of:

step 1: acquiring a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight;

step 2: constructing a stage variable, a state variable and a state transition equation;

step 3: establishing a basic equation by taking a minimum fuel consumption as an objective;

step 4: establishing a basic equation by taking a shortest flight time as an objective; and

step 5: establishing a basic equation by taking a minimum number of flight level changes as an objective;

step 6: designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model; and

step 7: solving the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model established in the step 2, the step 3, the step 4 and the step 5 by using the algorithm designed in the step 6 to form a plurality of strategies of flight trajectory multi-stage decision.

The constructing the stage variable, the state variable and the state transition equation in the step 2 is expressed as:

the stage variable k is equal to 1, 2, 3, . . . , and N, N is a maximum number of flight segments comprised in each route from an entry point to an exit point of the available airspace, and both the entry point and the exit point of the available airspace are unique and not identical;

the state variable s_k denotes a waypoint at the beginning of a stage k, and the state variable s_k has a state set that S_k={P_kⁱ} (i is an natural number, and i=1, 2, . . . ), P_kⁱ denotes a waypoint in the available airspace of the flight, at least one element in S_k is an immediately preceding waypoint of any element in S_k+1 and has a unique flight segment connection, all elements in S_k+1 have a corresponding element in S_k which is an immediately preceding waypoint of any element in S_k+1 and has a unique flight segment connection; as shown in FIG. 2, for any two non-adjacent state variables s_k and s_k+a (a≥2), when S_k comprises an element which is an immediately preceding waypoint of an element in S_k+a and has a unique flight segment connection, a−1 virtual waypoints equally distributed by distance are set on the flight segment, dividing the flight segment into a segments, flight level configurations of each flight segment are still the same as the flight segment, and each virtual waypoint belongs to a corresponding state set respectively; and

the state transition equation is that s_k+1=u_k(s_k), wherein u_k(s_k) denotes a decision variable in the k stage when the state is s_k.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the minimum fuel consumption as the objective in the step 3 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}{C}_k^l\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, D_k(s_k,u_k) denotes a length of a flight segment between a waypoint of the state s_k and a waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting a decision u_k, C_k^l(s_k,u_k) denotes a fuel consumption per unit time of a first flight level of the flight segment of the flight between the waypoint of the state s_k and the waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting the decision u_k, 1≤l≤L_k, and L_k is a number of flight layers of the flight segment between the waypoint of the state s_k and the waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after adopting the decision u_k; and v denotes an average ground velocity of the flight, and f_k(s_k) denotes an optimal indicator function.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the shortest flight time as the objective in the step 4 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}+T_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, T_k(s_k,u_k) denotes an airborne waiting time required for flow control of a waypoint of next stage S_k+1 after a waypoint of the state s_k adopts a decision u_k.

The establishing the basic equation by taking the minimum number of flight level changes as the objective in the step 5 is:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\left\{H_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\right\},k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0\end{array},$

wherein, H_k(s_k,u_k) denotes a flight level difference between a waypoint of the state s_k adopting a decision u_k and a decision u_k−1 of the previous stage, which is valued as 0 when the flight levels are the same, and valued as 1 when the flight levels are different.

The solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model in the step 6 comprises:

step 6.1: rebuilding the route network structure in the available airspace of the flight according to a solving need, wherein a flight segment exists between any waypoint P_kⁱ in the state set that S_k={P_kⁱ} (i=1, 2, . . . ) of the state variable s_k and a waypoint P_k+1^j in a set that Sk S_k+1={P_k+1^j} (j=1, 2, . . . ) of next stage s_k+1, the flight segment has L_kⁱ flight levels, and a flight segment with the waypoint P_k+1^j as an origin has L_k+1^j flight levels in total; generating L_kⁱ−1 virtual waypoints P_k^j for the waypoint P_kⁱ; and generating L_k+1^j−1 virtual waypoints P_k+1^j for the waypoint P_k+1^j; wherein flight segments are generated between each original and virtual waypoint P_kⁱ and each original and virtual waypoint P_k+1^j, each flight segment has the same distance and airborne waiting time required for flow control as the original flight segment, has and only has one flight level, and the flight segment between the same original or virtual waypoint P_kⁱ and the original or virtual waypoint P_k+1^j has the same flight level, as shown in FIG. 4, a waypoint P₁¹ and a waypoint P₂¹ are taken as examples;

step 6.2: normalizing and weighting each objective to form a dimensionless single objective, and establishing the basic equation as follows:

$\{\begin{array}{c}{f}_k\left(s_k\right)=\underset{u_k}{\min }\{{\omega }_{1}G\left(\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}{C}_k^l\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)+{\omega }_{2}G\left(\frac{D_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)}{v}+T_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)\\ f_{N+1}\left(s_{N+1}\right)=0+{\omega }_{3}G\left(H_k\left(s_k,u_k\right)\right)+f_{k+1}\left(s_{k+1}\right)\},\end{array}$ $k=N,N-1,N-2,\dots ,2,1,$

wherein, G( ) denotes a normalized function, so that each objective value is in the same order of magnitude, and ω₁, ω₂ and ω₃ denote a weight coefficient of each objective respectively; and

step 6.3: constantly changing the weight coefficient of each objective to form different weight coefficient combinations, and solving the single-objective basic equation established in the step 6.2 by using a reverse order method of dynamic planning.

The modeling process of the present invention is simple and feasible, and is easy to solve and realize, which is applicable to the development of tools for a control automation system and an air traffic flow management system.

According to the result of the step 4, refined flight trajectory planning or rerouting planning is carried out, and the trajectory management is carried out by a control automation system and an air traffic flow management system.

The flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method according to this embodiment is loaded and operated in a processing server of an air traffic flow management system (ATFM system) or a corresponding computer of an air traffic control system (ATC system).

In a specific implementation, the present application provides a computer storage medium and a corresponding data processing unit, wherein the computer storage medium is capable of storing a computer program, and the computer program, when executed by the data processing unit, can run the inventive contents of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method provided by the present invention and some or all steps in various embodiments. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read Only Storage (ROM) or a Random Access Storage (RAM), and the like.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention can be realized by means of a computer program and a corresponding general hardware platform thereof. Based on such understanding, the essence of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the part contributing to the prior art, may be embodied in the form of a computer program, i.e., a software product. The computer program, i.e., the software product is stored in a storage medium comprising a number of instructions such that a device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a singlechip, a MUU or a network device, and the like) comprising the data processing unit executes the methods described in various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention provides the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method. There are many methods and ways to realize the technical solutions. The above is only the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be pointed out that those of ordinary skills in the art can make some improvements and embellishments without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these improvements and embellishments should also be regarded as falling with the scope of protection of the present invention. All the unspecified components in the embodiments can be realized by the prior art.

Claims

1. A flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, comprising a computer readable medium operable on a computer with memory for the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method, and comprising program instructions for executing the following steps of: step 1: acquiring a route network structure, a flight segment length, flight level configurations of each flight segment and flow control information in an available airspace of a flight;step 2: establishing a flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model;step 3: designing a solving algorithm of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model;step 4: solving the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning model established in the step 2 by using the algorithm designed in the step 3 to form a plurality of strategies of flight trajectory multi-stage decision; andstep 5: refining flight trajectory planning and/or rerouting planning, and carrying out a trajectory management based on results of the flight trajectory multi-objective dynamic planning method;wherein the step 2 comprises:step 2.1: constructing a stage variable, a state variable and a state transition equation;step 2.2: establishing a first equation by taking a minimum fuel consumption as an objective;step 2.3: establishing a second equation by taking a shortest flight time as an objective; andstep 2.4: establishing a third equation by taking a minimum number of flight level changes as an objective;the constructing the stage variable, the state variable and the state transition equation in the step 2.1 is expressed as:the stage variable k is equal to 1, 2, 3, . . . , and N, N is a maximum number of flight segments comprised in each route from an entry point to an exit point of the available airspace, and both the entry point and the exit point of the available airspace are unique and not identical;the state variable sk denotes a waypoint at the beginning of a stage k, and the state variable sk has a state set that Sk={Pki}, i=1, 2, . . . , Pki denotes the waypoint in the available airspace of the flight, at least one element in Sk is an immediately preceding waypoint of any element in Sk+1 and has a unique flight segment connection, all elements in Sk+1 have a corresponding element in Sk which is the immediately preceding waypoint of any element in Sk+1 and has the unique flight segment connection; for any two non-adjacent state variables sk and sk+a, a≥2, when Sk comprises an element which is the immediately preceding waypoint of an element in Sk+a and has the unique flight segment connection, a−1 virtual waypoints equally distributed by distance are set on the flight segment, dividing the flight segment into a segments, flight level configurations of each flight segment are still the same as the flight segment, and each virtual waypoint belongs to a corresponding state set respectively; andthe state transition equation is that sk+1=uk(sk), wherein uk(sk) denotes a decision variable in the k stage when the state is sk;the establishing the first equation by taking the minimum fuel consumption as the objective in the step 2.2 is: