RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF VEHICLE OPERATIONS

• US 20170337825A1
• Filed: 03/20/2017
• Published: 11/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: WOICEKOWSKI, Michael J., ROMERO, Alejandro Oswaldo Hernandez, BASANETS, Oleksandr
• Granted Patent: US 10,515,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06

Abstract

Method and apparatus for generating and outputting dynamic variance reports for vehicle operations. The dynamic variance reports enable a vehicle operations scheduler to understand trends, patterns, or the like in variances between planned vehicle operations and actual vehicle operations. The understanding of the variances provided by the dynamic variance reports enable the scheduler to apply buffers to vehicle operations plans so that planned vehicle operations more closely match actual vehicle operations and crew assignments are less likely to be disrupted.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

storing electronic data for actual vehicle operations and planned vehicle operations in a data structure on a computer-readable medium, wherein the actual and planned vehicle operations data includes data for different vehicle operations, and wherein the data for the different vehicle operations includes multiple instances of the different vehicle operations;

calculating at least one variance for at least one personnel time limit criterion for the multiple instances of the different vehicle operations, based on one or more differences between the actual vehicle operations data and the planned vehicle operations data; and

generating at least one electronic dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the at least one user-adjustable criterion.

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

receiving a user input of a change to the at least one user-adjustable criterion via an electronic input device; and

responsive to the change, re-generating the at least one dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the changed at least one user-adjustable criterion.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises block time variances for the flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are multiple instances of a flight segment, wherein the at least one variance comprises block time variances for the multiple instances, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of instances of the flight segment that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of instances of the flight segment that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises connection time variances for flight crews for flight segment pairs, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance time comprises connection time variances at particular airports, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises duty time variances for flight crews for itineraries of flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises instances in which an aircraft does not operate a pre-planned itinerary of flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable number of instances, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises instances in which aircraft departing from a particular airport do not operate a preplanned flight segment, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable number of instances, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises at least one of:

time of day, month, year, and season.

11. A computer program product for generating dynamic reports related to vehicle operations, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code executable by one or more computer processors to;

store electronic data for actual vehicle operations and planned vehicle operations in a data structure on a computer-readable medium, wherein the actual and planned vehicle operations data includes data for different vehicle operations, and wherein the data for the different vehicle operations includes multiple instances of the different vehicle operations;

calculate at least one variance for at least one personnel time limit criterion for the multiple instances of the different vehicle operations, based on the actual vehicle operations data and planned vehicle operations data; and

generate at least one dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the at least one user-adjustable criterion.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable program code is further executable to:

receive a change to the at least one user-adjustable criterion; and

responsive to the change, re-generate the at least one dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the changed at least one user-adjustable criterion.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises at least one of:

time of day, month, year, and season.

14. A system, comprising:

a data structure on a computer-readable medium storing data related to planned vehicle operations and actual vehicle operations, wherein the actual and planned vehicle operations data includes data for different vehicle operations, and wherein the data for the different vehicle operations includes multiple instances of the different vehicle operations;

at least one input device configured to receive at least one user-adjustable criterion;

a display device; and

a processor in communication with the data structure, the at least one input device, and the display device, the processor configured to;

retrieve the actual vehicle operations data and the planned vehicle operations data from the data structure;

calculate at least one variance for at least one personnel time limit criterion for the multiple instances of the different vehicle operations, based on differences between the actual vehicle operations data and the planned vehicle operations data; and

output to the display device a first at least one dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the at least one user-adjustable criterion.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a change to the at least one user-adjustable criterion from the at least one input device; and

responsive to the change, output to the display device a second at least one dynamic variance report based on the calculated at least one variance and based on the changed at least one user-adjustable criterion.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises block time variances for the flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are multiple instances of a flight segment, wherein the at least one variance comprises block time variances for the multiple instances, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of instances of the flight segment that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of instances of the flight segment that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises connection time variances for flight crews for flight segment pairs, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance time comprises connection time variances at particular airports, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises duty time variances for flight crews for itineraries of flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable variance threshold, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises instances in which an aircraft does not operate a pre-planned itinerary of flight segments, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable number of instances, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle operations are flight segments for commercial aircraft, wherein the at least one variance comprises instances in which aircraft departing from a particular airport do not operate a preplanned flight segment, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises a user-adjustable number of instances, and wherein the variance report dynamically changes from a first display of flight segments that exceed a first user-adjustable variance threshold to a second display of flight segments that exceed a second user-adjustable variance threshold upon the user-adjustable variance threshold being changed from the first variance threshold to the second variance threshold.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one user-adjustable criterion comprises at least one of:

time of day, month, year, and season.