Method of following the course of the flight plan of a cooperative aircraft

• US 7,433,779 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2004
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Deker, Guy, Vanypre, Dominique
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olsen; Lin B
• Application Number:
  US10/578,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,434 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/8, 701/11, 701/17, 701/18, 701/121, 701/122, 701/206, 701/207, 701/210, 701/302, 343/33, 343/46, 343/357.04
• US Class Current: 701/122
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan

Abstract

This method relates to the system of ATM air traffic management with cooperative aircraft provided with a flight management computer FMS, that are linked by a data transmission system ATN to the control authority and that have presented a flight plan to the control authority. It consists in communicating to the control authority via the ATN link, the projections SPWPi,j onto the flight plan LT_FP of pseudo-waypoints PWPi,j introduced by the flight management computer FMS during lateral (between two segments of the flight plan) and/or vertical (between two breaks in slope) softened transitions performed by the aircraft at the time of the changes of instructions appearing in the flight plan LT_FP. By virtue of this information, the control authority estimates more precisely the actual future position of the aircraft and the changes of instruction, thereby enabling it to increase the safety level in particular for the spacing and separation of traffic.

Claims

1. A method of following the course of a flight plan of a cooperative aircraft provided with a flight management computer linked by a data transmission link to a control authority comprising the steps of:

the flight plan being known to the control authority and including of a chaining of waypoints associated with local flight constraints defining a trajectory skeleton to be followed and a travel schedule to be complied with,

the control authority employing the flight plan to estimate the instantaneous position of the aircraft,

the flight management computer constructing, on the basis of the trajectory skeleton and of the travel schedule that are specified in the flight plan, an effective trajectory with softened lateral and vertical transitions, dimensioned so as to take account of the maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft and of a comfort instruction, and tagged by means of pseudo-waypoints associated with local flight constraints, the position of a pseudo-waypoint marking the start of a transition and the associated local flight constraints defining the properties of the transition, said method being characterized in that the flight management computer of the aircraft calculates the locations of the projections of the pseudo-waypoints onto the trajectory skeleton specified in the flight plan and communicates them via the data transmission link to the control authority which uses them to improve its estimate of the instantaneous position of the aircraft.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flight management computer of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints onto the trajectory skeleton of the flight plan while conserving distances, the distance to a waypoint of the projection of a pseudo-waypoint being equal to that separating the projected pseudo-waypoint from the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft which is closest to the waypoint considered.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the flight management computer of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints onto the trajectory skeleton of the flight plan while conserving distances measured as a length unit, the distance to a waypoint of the projection of a pseudo-waypoint being equal to that separating the projected pseudo-waypoint from the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft which is closest to the waypoint considered.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the flight management computer of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints onto the trajectory skeleton of the flight plan while preserving equivalent, the distances measured as travel time, the travel time from a waypoint to the projection of a pseudo-waypoint being taken equal to the travel time from the projected pseudo-waypoint, to the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft which is closest to the waypoint considered.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flight management computer of the aircraft communicates to the control authority, with the locations of the projections of the pseudo-waypoints onto the trajectory skeleton specified in the flight plan, indications on the nature and the magnitude of the changes of local flight instruction that are associated with the projected pseudo-waypoints.