JP2002279600A - Navigation supporting device and flying course computing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation supporting device and a flying course computing method allowing the setting of a flying course while considering a flying area restricted by ETOPS. SOLUTION: In addition to data for the nearest airport allowing landing-on and -off of an airplane, an application time for the ETOPS related to the airplane is data-based and previously stored to provide for the readout of the ETOPS application time when setting the flying course with FMS (Step 1). A region with a radius r computed from the ETOPS application time is defined as a flying possible area for the airplane, and when a desired course input by an operator deviates from the area, the flying course which can be covered with the flying possible area throughout all route is computed by an arithmetic part 11 (Step S7) and displayed on a display part 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ETOPS (Exte
The present invention relates to a navigation support device and a flight path calculation method used onboard an aircraft subject to restrictions by nded Twin Operations).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If one engine fails during the flight of a twin-engine (two-engine aircraft), the remaining one engine must fly to the nearest take-off and landing airport. For this reason, the twin-engine has a restriction that it must normally fly only in an area where the time to reach the nearest take-off and landing airport is within 90 minutes (in the United States, within 60 minutes).

If the reliability of the engine satisfies a certain standard and the operator such as an airline company satisfies a certain safety standard, the above time constraint is relaxed. ETOPS is trying to do that. For example, the one in which the arrival time at the nearest take-off and landing airport is reduced to 120 minutes is referred to as “120-minute ETOPS”. By adopting this mechanism, the degree of freedom in operating the aircraft can be increased, and the motivation of operators can be improved, and the safety can be improved.

Conventionally, when preparing a flight plan for a twin-engine aircraft, the application time of ETOPS (the above 90 minutes or 120 minutes)
In consideration of the above, an airport near the planned flight route is selected, and the flight route is determined so that the arrival time to the airport is within a specified range.

[0005] By the way, in recent years, the development of F
According to a navigation support device called MS (Flight Management System), it has become possible to automatically set a flight route. However, there has not yet been known an apparatus capable of automatically setting a flight path in consideration of the restrictions of ETOPS.

[0006]

As described above, the conventional navigation support apparatus cannot automatically set the flight path in consideration of the restrictions of ETOPS. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an ETOP.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation support device and a flight route calculation method capable of setting a flight route while taking into account the flight area restriction by S.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a navigation support device to be mounted on an aircraft and used, comprising: A database respectively associated with takeoff / landing availability information, and storage means for storing a specified time set for the aircraft; and, within a flightable area of the aircraft, an airport within which the aircraft can take off and land within the specified time. And a calculating means for calculating a flight route reachable to the vehicle.

[0008] By taking such measures, for example, based on the fact that the aircraft is a twin-engine aircraft, the aircraft is restricted to fly only in an area that can be reached within a specified time to a take-off and landing airport. In the above, the flight route in the flightable area satisfying this restriction is calculated by the calculation means. In particular, when the specified time is extended by applying ETOPS, the flightable area is calculated based on the extended specified time.

As a result, the calculation of the flight path in consideration of ETOPS and the like, which has conventionally been performed manually by the operator, is executed by the arithmetic means. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the labor of the operator and contribute to the safe operation of the aircraft.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of the navigation support device according to the present embodiment. This system is mounted on a twin-engine aircraft (hereinafter, referred to as the aircraft), and has an arithmetic unit 1 that automatically sets a flight route of the aircraft and selects a nearest take-off and landing airport.
1. In addition to data relating to the nearest airport where takeoff and landing is possible, a database unit 12 in which the application time of ETOPS relating to the aircraft is stored in a database and stored, and a desired flight route (via point such as waypoint or destination) is input. And a display unit 14 for displaying various information obtained by the calculation unit 11. The operation unit 11
In addition, the database unit 12 and the input unit 13 are often housed in a part of the FMS unit in recent high-tech passenger aircraft.

The database unit 12 is realized as a storage means such as a semiconductor memory, and stores information on a plurality of airports, such as latitude, longitude, altitude, and runway direction and length. Database is stored. This type of database is commercially available to airlines and the like, and is regularly updated.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation support device having the above configuration. In step S1 of FIG.
First, the application time of ETOPS of the machine is read from the database unit 12. In the next step S2, the coordinates of the current location; (x0, y0) and the coordinates of the target location using the input unit 13 by an operator such as a pilot of the aircraft;
(Xk, yk) is input. The coordinates of the departure point of the aircraft may be input as the coordinates of the current location. In the next step S3, the flight path defined by P≡f (x, y) is input by the operator. Specifically, a desired flight route is input by giving coordinates of waypoints of waypoints or destinations.

In this embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the coordinates of the departure point are (x0, y0), the coordinates of the destination point are (xk, yk), and the coordinates of the intermediate route are (xx, yk).
1, y1), (x2, y2),.

When the steps up to this point are completed, the arithmetic unit 11 determines in step S4 the length of the runway based on the airport data read from the database unit 12, and
Select an airport where the aircraft can take off and land around the desired flight path. Then, in step S5, based on the application time of ETOPS read in step S1, the calculation unit 11 calculates an area in which the aircraft can fly. Where ETOPS
Assuming that the distance over which the aircraft can fly within the applicable time is r, the area over which the aircraft can fly is calculated using the following formula.

[0015]

(Equation 1)

In the next step S6, the calculating section 11 determines whether or not the flight path input in step S3 is within the area specified in step S5. Here, if the flight path is within the flightable area over the entire journey, the process proceeds to step S8, and output processing such as displaying on the display unit 14 is performed.

On the other hand, in step S6, if even a part of the flight path deviates from the flightable area, the arithmetic unit 1
1 proceeds to step S7 to correct the flight path. This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing how to correct the flight path in this embodiment. In FIG. 4, the area within the circle of radius r from the nearest airport where takeoff and landing is the area where the aircraft should fly. On the other hand, the route drawn by the dotted line in the figure indicates the desired route of the aircraft, and a part of the route is out of the flightable area. On the other hand, the arithmetic unit 11 corrects the flight path as shown by a solid line so that the entire journey fits within the flightable area in a form that is as much as possible along the desired path. In this way, the flight path can be automatically set in consideration of ETOPS. In modifying the flight path, factors such as minimizing fuel consumption may be added. Then, when the corrected flight route is obtained, the process proceeds to step S8 and is provided for display processing. Here, what is necessary is just to display the display content of FIG. 4 as it is.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in addition to the data on the nearest airport that can take off and land, the application time of the ETOPS relating to the aircraft is stored in the database unit 12, and this data is set when the flight route is set by the FMS. E
Read the TOPS application time. Then, the area of the radius r calculated from the ETOPS application time is set as the flightable area of the aircraft, and if the desired route input by the operator deviates from this area, it falls within the flightable area over the entire journey. Such a flight route is calculated by the calculation unit 11 and is displayed on the display unit 14.

With this configuration, it is possible to calculate the flight route in consideration of the restriction of the flight area by ETOPS without bothering the human, thereby improving the convenience of the operator and contributing to the improvement of safety. It becomes possible to do. In addition, if the corrected route calculated by the calculation unit 11 is set in an autopilot (not shown) or the like, further labor saving can be achieved.

(Modification) Next, a modification of this embodiment will be described. In the embodiments described so far, the processing for correcting the desired route in consideration of the restriction by ETOPS has been described. However, it is considered that this processing is often performed exclusively on the ground before the flight. On the other hand, the following modified example describes a procedure for setting the shortest route to the destination while taking into account the restrictions imposed by ETOPS, and is applied to a case where a route change is performed exclusively during flight.

In this modification, in step S3 of the flowchart of FIG. 2, instead of inputting the flight path desired by the operator, the coordinates (x0, y0) of the current point given in step S2 and the coordinates of the target point are obtained. Coordinates (xk, yk)
Is input to the navigation support device to request the calculation of the shortest route connecting the two. That is, "input of desired flight route" in step S3 of the flowchart of FIG. 2 is replaced with "automatic setting of shortest route from departure point (or current point) to target point".

An example of setting a route in this modification will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, the shortest route between the departure point and the destination point is indicated by a dotted line. On the other hand, the operation unit 11
Corrects the flight route in consideration of the flightable area due to the ETOPS restriction, and calculates the route indicated by the solid line. The route thus obtained is displayed on the display unit 14 together with a symbol indicating the nearest airport where takeoff and landing is possible. In short, what is necessary is just to display FIG. 5 on the display unit 14 as it is.

As described above, according to this modification, ETO
It is possible to automatically set the shortest route between the starting point (or the current point) and the target point while taking into account the restriction of the flight area by the PS.

According to this modification, for example, when the vehicle heads for a place different from the destination set before the flight due to an unforeseen situation, the coordinates of the current position and the new target point are re-input, so that the target point can be reached. Is automatically set in consideration of ETOPS, so that it is possible to greatly reduce the labor of the operator as compared with the related art.

In this embodiment, the nearest take-off and landing airport on the automatically set flight path is displayed on the display unit 14.
Is displayed. As a result, the pilot can fly while being aware of the take-off and landing airport near the flight path, and the emergency stop by stopping the engine can be further ensured.

From these, according to the present embodiment,
It is possible to provide a navigation support device and a flight route calculation method capable of setting a flight route while taking into account the flight area restrictions due to ETOPS.

[0028]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, E
It is possible to provide a navigation support device and a flight route calculation method capable of setting a flight route while taking into account the flight area restriction by TOPS.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation support device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a definition of coordinates according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a method of correcting a flight route in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting a route according to a modified example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 arithmetic unit 12 database unit 13 input unit 14 display unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A navigation support device used by being mounted on an aircraft, comprising: a database in which a plurality of airports are associated with location information and information on whether the aircraft can take off and land at the airport; Storage means for storing a specified time set for the aircraft; and a center of the airport at which the aircraft can take off and land, and a circle whose radius is the distance that the aircraft can reach under the specified time. A navigation means for identifying a possible area and calculating a flight route of the aircraft within the flightable area. 2. An input means for inputting a desired flight path, wherein the calculating means is configured to output the desired flight path if the input desired flight path deviates from the flightable area. The navigation support device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a new flight path in the area is calculated. 3. An input unit for inputting position information of a current position of the aircraft, and position information of a destination of the aircraft, wherein the calculating unit includes: The navigation support device according to claim 1, wherein a shortest flight path in the flightable area is calculated. 4. The navigation support device according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the flight path calculated by said calculation means. 5. The navigation according to claim 4, wherein the display means displays position information of an airport at which the aircraft can take off and land in a flight area accessible by the aircraft from the flight path. Support device. 6. The navigation support device according to claim 5, wherein the display unit displays a flight area that the aircraft can reach from the flight path. 7. A flight route calculation method using a navigation support device mounted on an aircraft and used, comprising: a first step of inputting a desired flight route of the aircraft; A second step of specifying a flightable area reachable by the aircraft within the specified time set; and, if the desired flight path deviates from the flightable area specified in the second step, A third step of calculating a new flight path in the flightable area. 8. A flight route calculation method using a navigation support device mounted on an aircraft and used, wherein a first position information of a current position of the aircraft and a position information of a destination of the aircraft are input. And a second step of identifying a flightable area that the aircraft can reach within a specified time set for the aircraft at an airport where the aircraft can take off and land; Calculating a shortest flight path within the flightable area specified in the step. 9. The second step is centered on an airport at which the aircraft can take off and land, and sets a flyable area within a circle having a radius of a distance that the aircraft can reach under the specified time. The method of calculating a flight path according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: