Method and system for fuel route planning

• US 8,700,249 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey A. Carrithers
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey A. Carrithers
• Inventors: Carrithers, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kiswanto, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US12/339,792
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: 701/25
• US Class Current: 701/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem

Abstract

A method for fuel route planning is implemented on a system including: a dispatch computer for interfacing with a fuel route plan user; and a central server computer in communication with the dispatch computer through a network. The central server computer is for: receiving an origin airport and a destination airport for a flight of an aircraft; determining a flight trajectory between the origin airport and the destination airport; retrieving a plurality of refueling airports located adjacent to the flight trajectory; retrieving fuel price information associated with a plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports; presenting the flight trajectory and the plurality of refueling airports on an aeronautical/geospatial map; and displaying the fuel price information associated with the plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports for use in compiling a fuel route plan.

Claims

1. A method for fuel route planning comprising:

receiving, from a fuel route plan user via a dispatch user interface of a dispatch computer, an origin airport and a destination airport for a flight of an aircraft;

determining, by a central server computer in communication with the dispatch computer through a network, a flight trajectory between the origin airport and the destination airport;

receiving, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, a lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory;

determining, by the central server computer in communication with the dispatch computer through the network, a fuel corridor having boundaries based on the lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory;

determining a fuel target area within which the aircraft must refuel to reach the destination airport, the fuel target area including side boundaries corresponding to the fuel corridor, a first end boundary corresponding to a first distance limit based on an aircraft range from the origin airport, and a second end boundary corresponding to a second distance limit based on an aircraft range from the destination airport;

retrieving, by the central server computer from an airport information database, a plurality of refueling airports located within the fuel corridor;

retrieving, by the central server computer from an FBO information database, fuel price information associated with a plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports;

rendering, on a dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, the flight trajectory and the plurality of refueling airports on an aeronautical/geospatial map using information from an aeronautical/geospatial mapping information database; and

displaying, on the dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, the fuel price information associated with the plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports for use in compiling a fuel route plan.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an aircraft range indicating a maximum distance that the aircraft can safely fly;

determining a determined refueling airport from the plurality of refueling airports based on the aircraft range; and

displaying the determined refueling airport on the aeronautical/geospatial map.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying on the aeronautical/geospatial map alternate airports within a predetermined range of the determined refueling airport;

retrieving, from the FBO information database, fuel price information associated with FBOs located at the alternate airports; and

displaying the fuel price information associated with the FBOs located at the alternate airports.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein displaying the fuel price information associated with the FBOs located at the alternate airports includes displaying a list of the FBOs sorted by the fuel price information to aid identification of an FBO having a least expensive fuel price.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving a selection of one of the alternate airports and substituting, in the fuel route plan, the one of the alternate airports for the refueling airport.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the destination airport is the refueling airport.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying on the aeronautical/geospatial map additional airports within a predetermined range of a selected set of coordinates;

retrieving, from the FBO information database, fuel price information associated with FBOs located at the additional airports; and

displaying the fuel price information associated with the FBOs located at the additional airports.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the fuel price information associated with the FBOs located at the additional airports includes displaying a list of the FBOs sorted by the fuel price information to aid identification of an FBO having a least expensive fuel price.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving a selection of one of the additional airports and adding the one of the additional airports to the fuel route plan.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a runway length requirement for the aircraft; and

filtering, using the runway length requirement for the aircraft, the plurality of refueling airports retrieved from the airport information database to include only refueling airports having a runway of sufficient length to accommodate the aircraft.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a fuel type requirement for the aircraft; and

filtering, using the fuel type requirement for the aircraft, the plurality of refueling airports retrieved from the airport information database to include only refueling airports having an FBO having fuel of a required fuel type for the aircraft.

12. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving, from a plurality of FBOs, fuel price information; and

saving the fuel price information from the plurality of FBOs in the FBO information database.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating a fuel reservation to a selected FBO in response to receiving a request to make the fuel reservation at the selected FBO.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for fuel route planning, wherein the program instructs a processor to perform the following steps:

receive, from a fuel route plan user via a dispatch user interface, an origin airport and a destination airport for a flight of an aircraft and an aircraft range indicating a maximum distance that the aircraft can safely fly;

determine a flight trajectory between the origin airport and the destination airport;

receive, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, a lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory;

retrieve, from an airport information database, a plurality of refueling airports located adjacent to the flight trajectory;

retrieve, from an FBO information database, fuel price information associated with a plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports;

present, to the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, the flight trajectory and the plurality of refueling airports on an aeronautical/geospatial map using information from an aeronautical/geospatial mapping information database;

display, to the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, the fuel price information associated with the plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports for use in compiling a fuel route plan; and

determine a fuel target area within which the aircraft must refuel to reach the destination airport,

wherein the determine the fuel target area step includes;

determine a fuel corridor having boundaries based on the lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory,

if a distance between the origin airport and the destination airport is less than twice the aircraft range, then determine the fuel target area as being within the fuel corridor and bounded by a first distance limit based on the aircraft range from the origin airport and a second distance limit based on the aircraft range from the destination airport, and

if the distance between the origin airport and the destination airport is greater than or equal to twice the aircraft range, then determine the fuel target area as being within the fuel corridor and bounded by the origin airport and the first distance limit based on the aircraft range from the origin airport, make an airport of an FBO within the fuel target area a new origin airport, and repeat until the destination airport is reached.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

determine a determined refueling airport from the plurality of refueling airports based on the aircraft range; and

display, to the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, the determined refueling airport on the aeronautical/geospatial map.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

receive, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, information to determine a runway length requirement for the aircraft; and

filter, using the runway length requirement for the aircraft, the plurality of refueling airports retrieved from the airport information database to include only refueling airports having a runway of sufficient length to accommodate the aircraft.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

receive, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, a fuel type requirement for the aircraft; and

filter, using the fuel type requirement for the aircraft, the plurality of refueling airports retrieved from the airport information database to include only refueling airports having an FBO having fuel of a required fuel type for the aircraft.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

receive, from FBO users via a respective FBO user interface, fuel price information; and

save the fuel price information in the FBO information database.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

receive, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface, a request to make a fuel reservation with a selected qualified FBO; and

communicate the request to make the fuel reservation to the selected qualified FBO.

20. A method for fuel route planning comprising:

receiving, from a fuel route plan user via a dispatch user interface of a dispatch computer, an origin airport and a destination airport for a flight of an aircraft and an aircraft range indicating a maximum distance that the aircraft can safely fly;

determining, by a central server computer in communication with the dispatch computer through a network, a flight trajectory between the origin airport and the destination airport;

receiving, from the fuel route plan user via the dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, a lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory;

determining, by the central server computer in communication with the dispatch computer through the network, a fuel corridor having boundaries based on the lateral deviation value from the flight trajectory;

retrieving, by the central server computer from an airport information database, a plurality of refueling airports located within the fuel corridor;

retrieving, by the central server computer from an FBO information database, fuel price information associated with a plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports;

rendering, on a dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, the flight trajectory and the plurality of refueling airports on an aeronautical/geospatial map using information from an aeronautical/geospatial mapping information database;

displaying, on the dispatch user interface of the dispatch computer, the fuel price information associated with the plurality of FBOs located at the plurality of refueling airports for use in compiling a fuel route plan; and

determining a fuel target area within which the aircraft must refuel to reach the destination airport,

wherein determining the fuel target area step includes;

if a distance between the original airport and the destination airport is less than twice the aircraft range, then determining the fuel target area as being within the fuel corridor and bounded by a first distance limit based on the aircraft range from the origin airport and a second distance limit based on the aircraft range from the destination airport, and

if the distance between the origin airport and the destination airport is greater than or equal to twice the aircraft range, then determining the fuel target area as being within the fuel corridor and bounded by the origin airport and the first distance limit based on the aircraft range from the origin airport, making an airport of an FBO within the fuel target area a new origin airport, and repeating until the destination airport is reached.