Methods and systems facilitating stabilized descent to a diversion airport

• US 10,134,289 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2016
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Moravek, Zdenek, Sosovicka, Robert, Magula, Filip, Kunes, David, Sprinarova, Katerina, Lacko, Ivan
• Primary Examiner(s): Oh, Harry Y
• Application Number:
  US15/047,355
• Publication Number:
  US 20170243495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 701 16
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 9/38 Jet flaps
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0676 specially adapted for landing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for guiding or otherwise assisting operation of a vehicle to intersect a stabilized approach to a destination. One exemplary method of assisting an aircraft for landing at an airport involves obtaining, from a system onboard the aircraft, a current position of the aircraft and a current velocity of the aircraft, determining a descent strategy for the aircraft from the current position to an initialization point for a stable approach to the airport based at least in part on the current position and the current velocity, and providing indication of the descent strategy on a display device. The descent strategy is determined based on one or more validation criteria associated with the initialization point so that one or more predicted values for one or more characteristics of the aircraft satisfy the one or more validation criteria at the initialization point.

Claims

1. A method of assisting an aircraft for landing at an airport, the method comprising:

determining a flap extension point for an approach to the airport based at least in part on a decision point proximate the airport and one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more stabilization criteria including at least one of a maximum airspeed limit and a maximum descent rate limit;

determining one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point based on the one or more stabilization criteria, wherein the one or more validation criteria include at least one of a minimum airspeed at the flap extension point and a maximum airspeed at the flap extension point;

obtaining, from a system onboard the aircraft, a current position of the aircraft and a current velocity of the aircraft;

determining a descent strategy for the aircraft from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point, wherein the descent strategy comprises one or more actions to decrease an energy level of the aircraft to satisfy the one or more validation criteria upon reaching the flap extension point; and

providing graphical indication of the one or more actions of the descent strategy on a display device at respective points along a route from the current position to the airport.

2. The method of claim 1, the one or more validation criteria comprising airspeed limits for the flap extension point, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises determining the descent strategy resulting in a predicted airspeed for the aircraft at the flap extension point that satisfies the airspeed limits based at least in part on the current position and the current velocity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the descent strategy comprises determining a plurality of segments along the route to the airport, each segment of the plurality of segments having an associated descent rate and an associated aircraft configuration; and

providing the graphical indication comprises providing indicia of the associated descent rate and the associated aircraft configuration proximate a respective point on the route corresponding to the respective segment of the plurality of segments.

4. The method of claim 1, the one or more actions including an aircraft configuration for a portion of a route from the current position to the airport, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying symbology indicative of the aircraft configuration proximate the portion of the route.

5. The method of claim 4, the descent strategy including a descent rate for the portion of the route, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying the descent rate proximate the symbology.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining meteorological information corresponding to the airport; and

obtaining a flight model for the aircraft, wherein determining the flap extension point comprises determining the flap extension point based on the meteorological information, the flight model, and the one or more stabilization criteria.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a circling pattern for the aircraft to reduce the energy level of the aircraft in conjunction with the descent strategy; and

providing additional indication of the circling pattern on the display device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises:

determining a plurality of potential descent strategies from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point; and

identifying the descent strategy as a potential descent strategy having a minimum flight time among the plurality of potential descent strategies.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises:

determining a plurality of potential descent strategies from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current velocity, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point;

scoring each potential descent strategy of the plurality of potential descent strategies by weighting characteristics of the respective potential descent strategy with weighting factors assigned to the respective characteristics; and

identifying the descent strategy as an optimal descent strategy of the plurality of potential descent strategies based on the scoring.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the airport as a diversion destination for the aircraft;

obtaining, from a data storage element, a model quantifying characteristics of the aircraft; and

determining the approach to the diversion destination satisfying one or more stabilization criteria using the model, the approach comprising the flap extension point having one or more validation criteria associated therewith, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises determining the descent strategy for navigating the aircraft from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point, the descent strategy resulting in a predicted value for a characteristic of the aircraft satisfying the one or more validation criteria upon reaching the flap extension point.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a graphical representation of the route on the display device, wherein:

providing graphical indication comprises providing graphical indicia of the one or more actions on the display device in association with the graphical representation of the route.

18. The method of claim 1, the one or more validation criteria comprising speed limits associated with the flap extension point, wherein determining the descent strategy comprises determining the descent strategy resulting in a predicted speed of the aircraft at the flap extension point that satisfies the speed limits based at least in part on the current position and the current velocity.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a navigational map associated with the aircraft; and

displaying a graphical representation of the route from the current position of the aircraft to the airport on the navigational map, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying symbology indicative of the one or more actions on the navigational map in association with the graphical representation of the route.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a vertical profile display corresponding to the descent strategy for the route between the current position and the airport, wherein providing the graphical indication comprises displaying symbology indicative of the one or more actions on the vertical profile display.

10. A system comprising:

a display device having a map associated with an aircraft displayed thereon, the map including a graphical representation of the aircraft, a graphical representation of an airport, and a graphical representation of a route from a current position of the aircraft to the airport; and

a processing system coupled to the display device to;

determine a flap extension point for an approach to the airport based at least in part on a decision point proximate the airport and one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more stabilization criteria including at least one of a maximum airspeed limit and a maximum descent rate limit;

determine one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point based on the one or more stabilization criteria, the one or more validation criteria include at least one of a minimum airspeed at the flap extension point and a maximum airspeed at the flap extension point;

determine a current energy level associated with the aircraft;

determine a descent strategy for navigating the aircraft from the current position to the flap extension point for the approach to the airport based at least in part on the current energy level, the current position, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point, wherein the descent strategy comprises one or more actions to decrease an energy level of the aircraft to satisfy the one or more validation criteria upon reaching the flap extension point; and

provide graphical indication of the one or more actions of the descent strategy on the map at respective points the route from the current position to the airport.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the strategy comprises a plurality of segments along the route;

each segment of the plurality of segments has a travel rate and a configuration associated therewith; and

the indication comprises graphical indicia of the travel rate and the configuration for each segment of the plurality of segments at respective locations along the route corresponding to the respective segments.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the travel rate comprises a descent rate.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a meteorological system coupled to the processing system to provide meteorological information corresponding to the airport, wherein the processing system determines the flap extension point based at least in part on the meteorological information and one or more stabilization criteria for the approach.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a data storage element maintaining a model of the aircraft, wherein the processing system is coupled to the data storage element to obtain the model and determine the flap extension point based on the meteorological information, the model, and the one or more stabilization criteria.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing system determines a plurality of potential strategies from the current position to the flap extension point based at least in part on the current position, the current energy level, and the one or more validation criteria associated with the flap extension point and selects the descent strategy from among the plurality of potential strategies based on one or more selection criteria.