MANAGEMENT OF ALTERNATIVE ROUTES FOR AN AIRCRAFT

• US 20180366008A1
• Filed: 06/14/2018
• Published: 12/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: DACRE-WRIGHT, Benoit, PINEAU, Olivier, NEFFLIER, Francois
• Granted Patent: US 10,699,582 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0141 characterised by the informative content of the display
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0101 characterised by optical features G02B27/0172 takes precedence
• 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

Abstract

Various methods for regulating and/or for integrating avionic systems with non-avionic systems are described. An avionic system is generally associated with a physical fault rate that is lower and a logic verification that is higher than those of a non-avionic system. Developments describe notably the use: of remote computing resources; of comparison, test, verification and authorization steps before injection of data of non-avionic origin into the avionics; of human-machine interaction methods; of various parameters (weather, air traffic, etc.) for the purpose of combinatorial optimization; and of electronic flight bags EFB and of flight management systems FMS.

Claims

1. A method for managing a route of an aircraft, implemented in a system comprising an avionic system and a non-avionic system, comprising the steps:

determining an alternative route to the current route in the non-avionic system;

receiving an authorization to insert said route into the avionic flight management system; and

inserting said route into the avionic flight management system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining an alternative route in the non-avionic system comprises executing the non-avionic system, a software code identical to the one implemented in the avionic flight management system.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining an alternative route in the non-avionic system comprises executing the non-avionic system, a software code functionally equivalent to the one implemented in the avionic flight management system.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the authorization to insert said alternative route is received from a human-machine interface and/or authorized by an avionic system.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the insertion authorization is conditional on a step of comparing the alternative route determined in or by the non-avionic system with the current route determined in or by the avionic system.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising evaluating or verifying the determined alternative route according to predefined criteria.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising modifying the determined alternative route.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of modifying the determined alternative route comprises one or more steps of combinatorial optimization and/or of multi-objective optimization, depending on one or more parameters selected from among the parameters comprising the present and predicted weather conditions through which the aircraft is moving, the surrounding air traffic, the structure of the airspace, the airport services of the destination or diversionary airport, the load factor and/or the passenger comfort that is estimated and associated with said route, the fuel cost, the flight time, the punctuality of the flight, the operational flight cost, the availability of the flight crew, the availability of maintenance hardware, environmental criteria, compliance with AOC company rules and ATC regulations, the probability of acceptance of the alternative route in terms of AOC and/or ATC negotiation.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the human-machine interface displays the determined alternative route and the current route of the aircraft by juxtaposing them.

10. The method according to claim 2, the human-machine interface comprising at least one cursor configured to trigger the display of one or more flight parameters associated with the determined alternative route over time depending on the movement of said cursor.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of receiving data of non-avionic origin in order to determine an alternative route to the current route in the non-avionic system.

12. The method according to claim 1, one or more steps being triggered depending on the flight context.

13. A computer program product, said computer program product comprising code instructions for performing the steps of the method according to claim 1 when said program is executed on a computer.

14. A system for managing a route of an aircraft, comprising

a non-avionic system configured to determine one or more alternative routes to the current route of the aircraft;

a gateway system configured to receive an authorization to insert an alternative route into an avionic system;

said avionic system comprising a flight management system configured to insert said route into the avionic flight management system;

the avionic system being associated with a physical fault rate that is lower and a logic verification that is higher than those of a non-avionic system.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising an avionic flight management system FMS and/or an air navigation traffic control system and a non-avionic system comprising an electronic flight bag EFB or a digital tablet.