The present invention relates to a method and a device for aiding the evaluation of a flight trajectory intended to the followed by an aircraft, in particular a transport airplane, in a constrained environment.
Within the context of the present invention, a constrained environment means an environment (or zone of the space with a given shape and size) being defined around the position of the aircraft and being able to contain objects (or obstacles), with which the aircraft should avoid getting into collision, including for obvious safety reasons or merely for flight comfort reasons, these objects being either stationary objects such as mountains or hills or mobile (or dynamic) objects such as meteorological disturbance zones, including stormy zones or other aircrafts.
The present invention applies to any type of flight trajectory being intended to be followed by an aircraft. It could be, in particular, a flight trajectory transmitted by the flight management system of the aircraft or by another usual system able to provide a prediction of the geometry of the future trajectory. It could also be a deposited flight plane or a trajectory generated during the flight phase.
The present invention aims at giving the pilots of the aircraft the possibility to evaluate the validity of the flight trajectory being considered in a dynamic environment (with a stormy zone or other airplanes progressing in the same space for instance) with the object, including, to support the crew in making on board a decision in such a constrained environment.
Nowadays, there is no tool for supporting or aiding the evaluation of a trajectory in aircraft cockpits. In particular, a usual navigation display of the ND (<<Navigation Display>>) type displays the current flight plane, but does not supply any information regarding, for instance, margins associated with this flight plane.
The present invention aims at remedying these drawbacks. It relates to a method for aiding the crew of an aircraft, in particular of a transport airplane, to evaluate any flight trajectory being intended to be followed by this aircraft in a constrained environment, that is in an environment able to contain stationary and mobile obstacles.
According to this invention, said device is remarkable in that:
A/ at least one first database containing mobile obstacles and at least one second database containing stationary obstacles are taken into consideration, relative at least to the environment of the aircraft, a plurality of successive points is automatically determined of said flight trajectory, referred to as trial points, and the following operations are automatically implemented, and this individually for each one of said successive trial points of said flight trajectory:
a) the passage time of the aircraft is estimated at the trial point being considered;
b) the positions of the mobile obstacles are extrapolated at said passage time, by means of said first database; and
c) a collision trial is implemented for checking whether a trial vector, being provided perpendicularly to a shifting vector of the aircraft at said trial point, intercepts, on the one hand mobile obstacles at extrapolated positions at said passage time, and on the other hand stationary obstacles of said second data base, and critical points are determined on opposite sides of the trial point being considered, depending on the result of said collision trial;
B/ the thus determined critical points are automatically linked together so as to form a zone, referred to as a free zone, around said flight trajectory; and
C/ said flight trajectory is automatically presented on a display of the aircraft, as well as, associated with this flight trajectory, said free zone allowing to aid to evaluate the flight trajectory.
Thus, thanks to the present invention, a display is provided emphasizing a zone being free of any obstacle around a flight trajectory being defined in a dynamic environment. This free zone illustrates the possible maneuver margin of the aircraft on the whole flight trajectory. Displaying this zone on a viewing screen of the cockpit thereby allows the crew, and including the pilot(s), to carry out a very quick evaluation of the piloting complexity on the trajectory being considered.
The method according to the present invention has more specifically the following advantages:
The present invention therefore provides a single display representing all the evolutions of the environment with respect to the flight trajectory in a given time window.
Within the context of present invention, it is possible to implement said collision trial, and more generally this invention, in a horizontal (side) plane or in a vertical plane. However, in a preferred embodiment, this invention is simultaneously implemented both in the horizontal and vertical planes so as to determine and provide a free zone being defined in the whole space around the flight trajectory being considered.
Furthermore, advantageously, if a part of the flight trajectory goes through any (stationary or mobile) obstacle of one of said first and second databases, this situation is emphasized on the display achieved at step C/, in particular by an absence of free zone and an overgloss of the part of the trajectory being impacted.
Moreover, advantageously:
For implementing the present invention, one or more first databases are used containing mobile (or dynamic) obstacles. In particular, advantageously, at step A/:
Furthermore, advantageously, at step A/c):
Moreover, advantageously, at step A/c), upon a collision trial:
This invention further relates to a device for aiding the crew of an aircraft, in particular of a transport airplane, to evaluate any flight trajectory being intended to be followed by this aircraft in a constrained environment, that is in an environment able to contain stationary and mobile obstacles.
According to this invention, said device is remarkable in that it comprises:
The device according to this invention allows to represent the complexity of an evolutionary environment (a situation wherein the pilot's extrapolation ability is not satisfactory for representing the time dependent space freedom) by a simple display, the main information being the freedom zone (referred to as a free zone) being associated with the flight trajectory in a dynamic environment. Said device thereby allows to aid the crew of the aircraft in evaluating and validating their flight trajectories in a constrained environment.
The present invention further relates to an aircraft, in particular a transport airplane, provided with an aiding device such as mentioned hereinabove.
The FIGS. of the appended drawing will better explain how this invention can be implemented. In these FIGS., like reference numerals relate to like components.
The device 1 according to this invention and schematically shown on
According to the invention, said device 1 being on board the aircraft comprises, as shown on
Moreover, according to the invention, said processing unit 6 comprises:
Thus, the device 1 according to this invention provides a display (
Within the context of the present invention, the above mentioned operations can be implemented in a horizontal plane or in a vertical place. However, in a preferred embodiment, this invention is simultaneously implemented both in the horizontal and vertical planes so as to determine and provide a free zone ZL being defined in the whole space around the flight trajectory TV being considered.
As set forth below, the processing unit 6 operates in an iterative way. It provides a number of distinct positions (trial points Pt) on the trajectory TV as a function of a predefined incrementation. For each one of these positions, it provides an estimation of the passage time, based on the predictions achieved by a flight management system integral for example, with the set 2. It then generates a representation of the environment at the estimated time, such a representation being used as a reference for measuring the critical distances compared to the obstacles O1, O2. Displaying all the critical points Pc for each one of the positions (trial points Pt) on the trajectory TV allows the representation, in one single display, of potential evolutions of the environment with respect to the trajectory written in a time window.
A detailed description of the characteristics of the present invention is carried out hereinafter for the side (horizontal) plane, the implementation being similar for the vertical plane.
The processing unit 6 thus relies on reference information issued from the following information sources:
Said device 1 thus relies on two types of separately processed databases:
The stationary obstacles base 5 contains discretizations of obstacles O1. The representation is a polygonal projection on the ground, associated with a limit height.
The dynamic bases 3, 4 integrate, as far as they are concerned, additional information regarding the evolution of the zones.
For stormy zones Z1, the information is produced by an analysis of the recent evolution of the zones (analysis of the meteorological monitoring or of data transmitted by a data transmission link for example). This analysis produces, for each building point A1 to A6 (referred to as a determining point) of the polygonal surface S1 (forming the mobile object or obstacle O2), a mean shifting vector V1 to V6 being measured, as shown on
As far as aircrafts are concerned being in a potential conflict with the trajectory TV being considered (database 4), they are each time associated with a flight plane, a speed profile and a hazard zone width around the aircraft.
Furthermore, said means 15 determine automatically, as trial points Pt, successive points along the flight trajectory TV, being separated one from the other, each time, by a constant distance D, as shown on
Moreover, the means 16 estimate the passage time at each trial point Pt being considered. The prediction occurs on an interpolation between the trial points Pt provided by the flight management system. The time generated is produced with respect to a current time t0 at the current position P0 of the aircraft. The next trial point P1 is thus located at a distance D from P0 and is identified by a passage time t0+x.
Furthermore, said extrapolation means 17 extrapolate the positions of each one of the mobile obstacles O2 (aircrafts on a flight plane, stormy cells on analyzed vectors, etc.). The extrapolation occurs on a tolerance window aiming at overcoming the inaccuracies at the level of the predictions. This tolerance window could be predetermined, or even be selected and entered in the device 1 by an operator using appropriate means being integral with the set 2.
For each one of the trial points Pt, said extrapolation means 17 analyze the predicted passage time being associated therewith. Then, they carry out a position extrapolation based on the shifting vectors
V1 to V6 stored in the associated database 3, 4. Each one of the mobile obstacles O2 is thus shifted for each one of the trial points Pt.
As previously set forth, for implementing the present invention, one or more databases can be used containing mobile (or dynamic) obstacles O2. In particular,
Furthermore, for implementing collision trials, the means 18 use a collision trial vector 22 having a length being predetermined, for example 6 nautical miles, or being selected by the pilot using appropriate means integral, for example, with the set 2. For each one of the trial points Pt, they plot collision trial vectors 22 perpendicularly to the shifting vector 20 of the aircraft, on opposite sides of the trial point Pt being considered. Moreover, they implement a collision trial for the extrapolated positions of the mobile obstacles O2 at two successive instants TiA and TiB corresponding to the extreme times (Ti−F, Ti+F) of a time window FT being defined compared to said passage time Ti. As shown on the chronological plot shown on
Ti+F. The duration F represents a multiple of a pitch P. In a particular embodiment, this time window FT could be nil.
Thus, as an illustration:
Moreover, during such a collision trial:
The trial (or interception) vector 22 is constrained by a limit length imposed, for example, by an operator. This length is associated with a maximum coverage margin. If the trial vector 22 does not meet any obstacles within this margin, the critical point Pc is thus defined as a function of the limit size. On the other hand, if a point is located within a hazardous cell, this point is identified as critical. A critical point Pc is specially processed upon the display for emphasizing the hazard associated with the trajectory TV.
The plot according to the critical points Pc, on opposite sides of the reference trajectory TV, defines the limits 21 of the dynamic free zone ZL, as shown on
On these
Furthermore, if a part T2 of the flight trajectory TV goes through an (stationary or mobile) obstacle, this situation is emphasized on the display, in particular by a lack of free zone (plot 21) and by an overgloss of the impacted part of trajectory T2 (illustrated by a thick line on
The device 1 according to the present invention thus has, more specifically the following advantages:
The present invention therefore provides a single display representing all the evolutions of the environment with respect to the flight trajectory TV in a given time window.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 60192 | Dec 2010 | FR | national |