Systems and methods for actionable avionics event-based communications

• US 10,559,212 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2017
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Langer, Jason L., Jannusch, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Application Number:
  US15/665,081
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan

Abstract

A system includes a flight plan database and a flight plan engine. The flight plan database is configured to store a local flight plan. The local flight plan includes one or more flight actions associated with a plan event condition including at least one of a time, a waypoint, or a position. The flight plan engine is configured to, while a platform is in an operational state, compare the plan event condition of at least one flight action to a current event condition to determine an action state of the at least one flight action, generate a group flight plan including the at least one action based on the action state, and transmit the group flight plan to one or more remote platforms.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a flight plan database configured to store a local flight plan, the local flight plan including one or more flight actions associated with a plan event condition including at least one of a time, a waypoint, or a position; and

a flight plan engine configured to;

while a platform is in an operational state, compare the plan event condition of at least one flight action to a current event condition to determine an action state of the at least one flight action;

generate a group flight plan including the at least one action based on the action state;

transmit the group flight plan to one or more remote platforms;

receive a remote group flight plan from a remote platform;

identify one or more remote flight actions of the remote platform; and

update a display of the local flight plan on a flight display to include the one or more remote flight actions based on the one or more remote flight actions satisfying an acceptance criteria.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the acceptance criteria is based on at least one of the position, a heading, a range, or a load capacity of the platform.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the acceptance criteria includes a command request, and at least one remote flight action of the remote group flight plan includes a command configured to satisfy the command request to cause the flight plan engine to automatically update the display of the local flight plan to include the at least one remote flight action.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a group database comprising communication information for communicating with corresponding one or more remote platforms, wherein the flight plan engine is further configured to transmit the group flight plan based on the communication information.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the local flight plan is associated with a first communication protocol, the communication information includes a second communication protocol different than the first communication protocol, and the flight plan engine is configured to generate the group flight plan based on the second communication protocol.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight plan engine is configured to determine the current event condition based on a user input.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight plan engine is configured to retrieve the current event condition from a clock of the platform if the plan event condition includes the time, and from a position sensor of the platform if the plan event condition includes at least one of the waypoint or the position.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the action state includes a not yet complete state, a complete state, an incomplete state, or a cannot be completed state, and the flight plan engine is configured to transmit the group flight plan to the one or more remote platforms in response to determining the action state to be the incomplete state.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight plan engine is configured to select the one or more remote platforms for transmission of the group flight plan based on at least one of the position, a heading, a range, or a load capacity of the one or more remote platforms.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operational state includes at least one of taking off, landing, being in flight, or executing the local flight plan.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the acceptance criteria is based on at least one of the position, a heading, a range, or a load capacity of the airborne platform.

11. A method, comprising:

loading a local flight plan including one or more flight actions associated with a plan event condition including at least one of a time, a waypoint, or a position;

while an airborne platform is in flight, comparing the plan event condition of at least one flight action to a current event condition to determine an action state of the at least one flight action;

generating a group flight plan including the at least one flight action based on the action state;

transmitting the group flight plan to one or more remote platforms;

receiving a remote group flight plan from a remote platform;

identifying one or more remote flight actions of the remote group flight plan; and

updating a display of the local flight plan on a flight display to include the one or more remote flight actions based on the one or more remote flight actions satisfying an acceptance criteria.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting the group flight plan to the one or more remote platforms based on communication information corresponding to the one or more remote platforms.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining the action state of the at least one flight action to be one of a not yet complete state, a complete state, an incomplete state, or a cannot be completed state, and transmitting the group flight plan to the one or more remote platforms in response to determining the action state to be the incomplete state.