AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS

• US 20160093222A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Hale, Ryan D., Bailey, Louis J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,121,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods for processing aircraft flight information and flight plan information are described. Specific techniques are described for managing flight data in real time, sharing flight data between a plurality of systems, dynamically managing flight information, generating flight plan information, providing flight plan information to a user, and closing flight plan discontinuities.

Claims

1. A method of generating predicted flight plan information, the method comprising:

accessing one or more flight objects on a computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system, the one or more flight objects accessed via at least one network communicatively coupled to the computing device, the one or more flight objects associated with a planned flight;

extracting flight information from the one or more flight objects, processing and rendering the active flight information for viewing;

receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, one or more filtering criteria pertaining to the planned flight;

determining flight information pertaining to the planned flight and associated airspace environment information based on the filtering criteria;

generating event probability and forecast predictions for the planned flight based on the determined flight information; and

generating predictive flight information with user notes and aircraft performance information using the generated event probability and forecast predictions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the flight information comprises one or more of flight history information, flight actuals, planned flight information, user notes and advisory information;

current planned flight;

flight history, flight events, predicted performance, weather, environmental conditions, or flight trajectory information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predictive flight information includes aircraft performance information and a probability distribution function.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, changes to the one or more filtering criteria pertaining to the planned flight and updating the generated predictive flight information with user notes and aircraft performance information in response to flight information changes.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein a time period for the flight information is selectable via at least one input mechanism of the computing device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the flight information includes pilots'"'"' notes.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the flight information includes real time, forecast and flight predicted environmental conditions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the event probability and predictions are determined based on historical, real time and planned flight information, and business considerations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the event probability and forecast predictions includes one or more of predicted fuel at selected waypoints, and a probability of a hold.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the user notes are categorized with levels of significance of the respective annotation.

11. A computing device for managing flight information in real time, the device comprising at least a processor and memory, the memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least:

access one or more flight objects on a computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system, the one or more flight objects accessed via at least one network communicatively coupled to the computing device, the one or more flight objects associated with a planned flight;

extract flight information from the one or more flight objects, process and rendering the active flight information for viewing;

receive, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, one or more filtering criteria pertaining to the planned flight;

determine the planned flight and associated airspace environment information based on the filtering criteria;

generate event probability and forecast predictions for the planned flight based on the determined flight information; and

generate predictive flight information using user notes, aircraft performance information, and using the generated event probability and forecast predictions.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the flight information comprises real time and flight history information.

13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the flight information comprises flight plan and advisory information.

14. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the flight information comprises one or more of planned flight;

flight history, flight events, predicted performance, weather, environmental conditions, or flight trajectory information.

15. The computing device of claim 11, wherein a time period for the flight information is selectable via at least one input mechanism of the computing device.

16. A system comprising at least a processor and memory, the memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

access one or more flight objects on a computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system, the one or more flight objects accessed via at least one network communicatively coupled to the computing device, the one or more flight objects associated with a planned flight;

receive, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, one or more filtering criteria pertaining to the planned flight;

determine flight information pertaining to the planned flight and associated airspace environment information based on the filtering criteria;

generate event probability and forecast predictions for the planned flight based on the determined flight information; and

generate predictive aircraft performance information using the generated event probability and forecast predictions.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the flight history information includes pilots'"'"' annotations.