Method and device for ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight of an aircraft

• US 7,761,193 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2005
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus France
• Inventors: Espinasse, Jacques, Artini, Franck, Demortier, Jean-Pierre, Bouchet, Christophe, Strongman, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kiswanto; Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US11/128,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20050261811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,894 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 5/005 altimeters for aircraft G01C5/02, G01C5/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0646 to follow the profile of undulating ground

Abstract

Method and device for ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight of an aircraft.

A device (1) for ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight comprises information sources (5) able to determine current flight conditions, a monitoring unit (6) for realizing, with the aid of said current flight conditions, a function for global and autonomous monitoring of said low-altitude flight of the aircraft, making it possible to preserve the integrity of said aircraft during said flight, and means (13) for presenting the results of the monitoring function realized by said monitoring unit (6) to an operator.

Claims

1. A method of ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight of an aircraft which is guided along a flight trajectory, comprising a lateral trajectory and a vertical trajectory, said method comprising:

determining current flight conditions;

realizing a function for global and autonomous monitoring of said low-altitude flight of the aircraft, with the aid of said current flight conditions, making it possible to preserve the integrity of said aircraft during said flight; and

presenting the results of the monitoring function thus realized to an operator,

wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a first monitoring is realized so as to verify compatibility of a precomputed vertical trajectory with an updated theoretical performance of the aircraft,

wherein, to realize said first monitoring;

a protection profile is formed with the aid of computation parameters relating to the aircraft and of exterior parameters, which are measured and updated, wherein said protection profile depends on a capacity of the aircraft to perform a resource at constant speed and at maximum slope,

the protection profile is projected onto the vertical trajectory from a current position of the aircraft, downstream, along said vertical trajectory, and

a check is carried out to verify if said protection profile thus projected tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory, and a signal for warning a pilot of the aircraft is emitted when said protection profile tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a second monitoring is realized so as to verify the compatibility of the flight trajectory with terrain to be overflown.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said second monitoring consists in verifying that the vertical trajectory of the flight trajectory, translated vertically downward by a predetermined guard height, does not intercept the terrain.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein, to realize said second monitoring, the following operations are performed for each curvilinear abscissa of the lateral trajectory of the flight trajectory:

a highest altitude under an uncertainty surface related to said curvilinear abscissa is determined;

the highest altitude is increased by said guard height so as to form a safety altitude; and

a check is carried out to verify that an altitude of said curvilinear abscissa is greater than said safety altitude.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a second monitoring is realized so as to verify that said flight trajectory is continuous and maneuverable by the aircraft.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein, to realize said second monitoring, the following operations are performed for each curvilinear abscissa of the lateral trajectory of the flight trajectory:

lateral and vertical radii of curvature corresponding respectively to the lateral trajectory and to the vertical trajectory are determined at said curvilinear abscissa;

on the basis of these lateral and vertical radii of curvature are determined;

a first load factor corresponding to a static load factor due to a turn at constant slope; and

a second load factor corresponding to a vertical load factor due to a vertical transition at constant course; and

a check is carried out to verify that said first and second load factors remain less than predetermined maximum values.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a second monitoring is realized so as to verify that a thrust of the aircraft required to maintain the slope and the preset speed such as they are defined for the flight trajectory, remains less than the maximum thrust available in the case of a fault with an engine of the aircraft.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said first monitoring, the protection profile is associated with each peak of the vertical trajectory, and a check is carried out to verify the compatibility of a position of the aircraft with respect to said protection profile.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said protection profile comprises a circular arc of constant radius and a rectilinear segment of maximum slope.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when said first monitoring detects the incompatibility, the vertical trajectory is automatically corrected ahead of the aircraft in such a way as to eliminate this incompatibility.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a second monitoring is realized so as to verify the compatibility of the vertical trajectory with actual performance of the aircraft.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein, to realize said second monitoring:

a first maximum slope is determined which represents the maximum slope at which the aircraft can fly under the current flight conditions with a faulty engine;

a second maximum slope is determined which represents the maximum slope at which the aircraft can fly under the current flight conditions with all its engines operational;

a preset slope is determined allowing the aircraft to fly along said flight trajectory; and

a check is carried out to verify that said preset slope is compatible with said first and second maximum slopes.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said first and second maximum slopes are determined from the current total slope of the aircraft.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to realize said monitoring function, a second monitoring is realized so as to detect any excessive deviation of the position of the aircraft with respect to said flight trajectory.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said current flight conditions comprise current meteorological conditions current characteristics of the aircraft.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a function for ensuring the safety of the flight trajectory during its construction is implemented.

17. A device for ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight of an aircraft which is guided along a flight trajectory, said device comprising:

information sources able to determine current flight conditions;

a monitoring unit for realizing, with the aid of said current flight conditions, a function for global and autonomous monitoring of said low-altitude flight of the aircraft, making it possible to preserve the integrity of said aircraft during said flight; and

a presentation unit that presents the results of the monitoring function realized by said monitoring unit to an operator, wherein said monitoring unit comprises a first monitoring section so as to verify compatibility of a precomputed vertical trajectory with an updated theoretical performance of the aircraft,

wherein, to realize said monitoring, the first monitoring section;

forms a protection profile with the aid of computation parameters relating to the aircraft and of exterior parameters, which are measured and updated, wherein said protection profile depends on a capacity of the aircraft to perform a resource at constant speed and at maximum slope,

projects the protection profile onto the vertical trajectory from a current position of the aircraft, downstream, along said vertical trajectory, and

carries out a check to verify if said protection profile thus projected tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory, and a signal for warning a pilot of the aircraft is emitted when said protection profile tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory.

18. The device as claimed in claim 17, wherein said monitoring unit further comprises:

a second monitoring section that verifies the compatibility of the flight trajectory with terrain to be overflown;

a third monitoring section that verifies that said flight trajectory is continuous and maneuverable by the aircraft;

a fourth monitoring section that verifies that a thrust of the aircraft required to maintain the slope and the preset speed such as they are defined for the flight trajectory to remain less than a maximum thrust available in the case of a fault with an engine of the aircraft;

a fifth monitoring section that verifies the compatibility of the vertical trajectory with actual performance of the aircraft; and

a sixth monitoring section that detects any excessive deviation of the position of the aircraft with respect to said flight trajectory.

19. The device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising an update section that automatically updates said flight trajectory.

20. The device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising an implementation section that implements a function to ensure safety of the flight trajectory during its construction.

21. An aircraft, which comprises a device for ensuring the safety of a low-altitude flight of an aircraft which is guided along a flight trajectory, said device comprising:

information sources able to determine current flight conditions;

a monitoring unit for realizing, with the aid of said current flight conditions, a function for global and autonomous monitoring of said low-altitude flight of the aircraft, making it possible to preserve the integrity of said aircraft during said flight; and

a presentation unit that presents the results of the monitoring function realized by said monitoring unit to an operator, wherein said monitoring unit comprises a first monitoring section so as to verify compatibility of a precomputed vertical trajectory with an updated theoretical performance of the aircraft,

wherein, to realize said monitoring, the first monitoring section;

forms a protection profile with the aid of computation parameters relating to the aircraft and of exterior parameters, which are measured and updated, wherein said protection profile depends on a capacity of the aircraft to perform a resource at constant speed and at maximum slope,

projects the protection profile onto the vertical trajectory from a current position of the aircraft, downstream, along said vertical trajectory, and

carries out a check to verify said protection profile thus projected tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory, and a signal for warning a pilot of the aircraft is emitted when said protection profile tangentially intercepts said vertical trajectory.