Map-based trip trajectory and data integration system

• US 10,415,992 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Pineo, Richard Eddy, Pope, Kyle James, Potter, Megan Zoe, McDaniel, Austin David, Adler, Kristopher Evans
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Application Number:
  US15/376,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20180164123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

Systems and methods for mapping trip trajectories include identifying one or more vehicle trips (e.g., aircraft flights). One or more trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip can be identified, and location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips can be requested. Trip trajectory data based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips and the one or more trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip can be generated. The trip trajectory data can be provided for display on a map of a geographic area including one or more locations defined by the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for mapping trip trajectories, comprising:

identifying, by one or more computing devices, one or more vehicle trips and one or more trip parameters associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip, the one or more trip parameters comprising an engine-off taxiing parameter, the at least a portion of each vehicle trip identified based at least in part on a trip grouping system configured to create data groupings relative to the one or more vehicle trips, and the one or more vehicle trips comprising;

a first trajectory portion corresponding to engine cool down after landing for a selected aircraft;

a second trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing is available for use by the selected aircraft; and

/or

a third trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing was actually employed by the selected aircraft;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more trajectory configurations associated with the at least a portion of each vehicle trip and one or more parameter configurations associated with the at least a portion of each trip parameter;

requesting, by the one or more computing devices, location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips and trip parameter data associated with the one or more trip parameters, the location data comprising data pertaining to latitude, longitude, and/or altitude;

generating, by the one or more computing devices, trip trajectory data based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips and the one or more trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip, and further based at least in part from the trip parameter data associated with the one or more trip parameters and the one or more parameter configurations associated with the at least a portion of each trip parameter; and

providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data on a map of a geographic area including one or more locations defined by the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips, the one or more locations defined by the location data provided for display on the map of the geographic area including the first trajectory portion, the second trajectory portion, and/or the third trajectory portion; and

identifying a cost-savings measure associated with an aircraft taxiing protocol at least in part using the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data provided for display on the map of the geographic area, the cost savings measure corresponding to employing engine-off taxiing;

wherein the one or more parameter configurations comprise a mapping formula for mapping values for the one or more trip parameters to a visual spectrum.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein requesting, by the one or more computing devices, location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips comprises:

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a query string that comprises one or more trip identifiers indicative of the one or more vehicle trips; and

requesting, by the one or more computing devices, location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips from a trip data system based at least in part on the query string that comprises the one or more trip identifiers.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the query string further comprises one or more system identifiers indicative of the trip data system from which the location data is requested.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip comprises:

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more first trip trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of one or more first vehicle trips; and

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more second trip trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of one or more second vehicle trips; and

wherein generating, by the one or more computing devices, trip trajectory data is based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips, the one or more first trip trajectory configurations and the one or more second trip trajectory configurations.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the first trip trajectory configuration comprises a first color or style for trip trajectory data associated with the at least a portion of one or more first vehicle trips;

and wherein the second trip trajectory configuration comprises a second color or style for trip trajectory data associated with the at least a portion of one or more second vehicle trips.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each vehicle trip comprises:

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more first trip trajectory configurations associated with at least a first portion of each vehicle trip; and

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more second trip trajectory configurations associated with at least a second portion of each vehicle trip; and

wherein generating, by the one or more computing devices, trip trajectory data is based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips, the one or more first trip trajectory configurations and the one or more second trip trajectory configurations.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameter configurations comprise icon definitions for indicating trip parameter data at one or more times or locations along a trip trajectory.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, data indicative of user selection of one or more selected vehicle trips from the trip trajectory data provided for display; and

providing for display, by the one or more computing devices, additional trip parameter data associated with the one or more selected vehicle trips.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the trip trajectory data and map data associated with the map on which the trip trajectory data is provided for display are both provided in a keyhole markup language (KML) file format.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicle trips comprise one or more aircraft flights, and wherein identifying, by one or more computing devices, one or more aircraft flights comprises receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a unique flight identifier for each aircraft flight.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicle trips comprise one or more aircraft flights, and wherein identifying, by one or more computing devices, one or more aircraft flights comprises receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a user selection of aircraft flights from a graphical user interface.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more trip parameters comprise parameters recorded or derived from a vehicle data recorder or an engine data recorder.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the one or more trip parameters comprises a control input parameter, a trip dynamics parameter, and/or a static logic parameter.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more trajectory configurations comprise a trajectory configuration that defines color values corresponding to trip parameter values, and wherein the trip trajectory data comprises data renderable by the one or more computing devices to display the color values corresponding to trip parameter values along a trajectory line representing the location data.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more trajectory configurations comprise a trajectory configuration that defines lines of varied length corresponding to trip parameter values, and wherein the trip trajectory data comprises data renderable by the one or more computing devices to display the lines of varied length along a trajectory line representing the location data.

16. A map-based trip trajectory system, comprising:

a display device configured to provide output data in the form of one or more graphical user interfaces for receiving user instructions;

an input device configured to receive input data provided to the one or more graphical user interfaces provided on the display device, the input data identifying;

one or more vehicle trips, the one or more vehicle trips comprising;

a first trajectory portion corresponding to engine cool down after landing for a selected aircraft;

a second trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing is available for use by the selected aircraft; and

/or

a third trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing was actually employed by the selected aircraft; and

one or more first trip trajectory configurations, one or more first trip parameters, and one or more first parameter configurations each associated with the first trajectory portion, the one or more first trip parameters comprising a first engine-off taxiing parameter corresponding to the first trajectory portion;

one or more second trip trajectory configurations, one or more second trip parameters, and one or more second parameter configurations each associated with the second trajectory portion, the one or more second trip parameters comprising a second engine-off taxiing parameter corresponding to the second trajectory portion; and

one or more third trip trajectory configurations, one or more third trip parameters, and one or more third parameter configurations each associated with the third trajectory portion, the one or more third trip parameters comprising a third engine-off taxiing parameter corresponding to the third trajectory portion,

wherein the first trajectory portion of the one or more vehicle trips, the second trajectory portion of the one or more vehicle trips, and the third trajectory portion of the one or more vehicle trips are identified based at least in part on a trip grouping system configured to create data groupings relative to the one or more vehicle trips;

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising;

requesting location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips and trip parameter data associated with the one or more trip parameters, the location data comprising data pertaining to latitude, longitude, and/or altitude;

generating trip trajectory data based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips, the one or more first trip trajectory configurations, the one or more second trip trajectory configurations, and the one or more third trip trajectory configurations; and

providing for display on the display device the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data on a map of a geographic area including one or more locations defined by the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips, the one or more locations defined by the location data provided for display on the map of the geographic area including the first trajectory portion, the second trajectory portion, and/or the third trajectory portion; and

identifying a cost-savings measure associated with an aircraft taxiing protocol at least in part using the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data provided for display on the map of the geographic area, the cost savings measure corresponding to employing engine-off taxiing;

wherein the one or more first parameter configurations and the one or more second parameter configurations comprise a mapping formula for mapping values for the one or more trip parameters to a visual spectrum.

17. The map-based trip trajectory system of claim 16, wherein requesting location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips comprises:

generating a query string that comprises one or more trip identifiers indicative of the one or more vehicle trips and one or more system identifiers indicative of a trip data system from which the location data is requested; and

requesting the location data associated with the one or more vehicle trips from a flight data system based at least in part on the query string that comprises the one or more trip identifiers and the one or more system identifiers.

18. The map-based trip trajectory system of claim 16, wherein the one or more parameter configurations comprise icon definitions for indicating trip parameter data at one or more times or locations along a trip trajectory.

19. The map-based trip trajectory system of claim 16,

wherein the input data comprises data indicative of user selection of one or more selected vehicle trips from the trip trajectory data provided for display;

and

wherein the additional trip parameter data associated with the one or more selected vehicle trips is further provided for display on the display device.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that implement an application programming interface for obtaining flight trajectory data executed on one or more computing devices, the one or more computing devices having one or more processors and at least one display device, the application programming interface comprising instructions for:

identifying, by a software application associated with the one or more computing devices, one or more aircraft flights and one or more trip parameters associated with at least a portion of each aircraft flight, and one or more flight trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each aircraft flight and one or more parameter configurations associated with at least a portion of each trip parameter the one or more trip parameters comprising an engine-off taxiing parameter, and the one or more aircraft flights comprising;

a first trajectory portion corresponding to engine cool down after landing for a selected aircraft;

a second trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing is available for use by the selected aircraft; and

/or

a third trajectory portion corresponding to one or more locations and/or times during which engine-off taxiing was actually employed by the selected aircraft;

generating, by the software application, a query string that comprises one or more flight identifiers indicative of the one or more aircraft flights;

requesting, by the software application, location data associated with the one or more aircraft flights and trip parameter data associated with the one or more trip parameters, the location data comprising data pertaining to latitude, longitude, and/or altitude; and

generating, by the software application, trip trajectory data based at least in part from the location data associated with the one or more aircraft flights and the one or more flight trajectory configurations associated with at least a portion of each aircraft flight, and further based at least in part from the trip parameter data associated with the one or more trip parameters and the one or more parameter configurations associated with the at least a portion of each trip parameter;

wherein the one or more computing devices provide for display on the display device the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data associated with the one or more aircraft flights on a map of a geographic area including one or more locations defined by the location data associated with the one or more aircraft flights, the one or more locations defined by the location data provided for display on the display device including the first trajectory portion, the second trajectory portion, and/or the third trajectory portion; and

wherein the one or more computing devices are used to identify a cost-savings measure associated with an aircraft taxiing protocol at least in part using the trip trajectory data and the trip parameter data provided for display on the display device, the cost savings measure corresponding to employing engine-off taxiing;

wherein the one or more parameter configurations comprise a mapping formula for mapping values for the one or more trip parameters to a visual spectrum.