Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
  • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
  • G08G5/0004—Transmission of traffic-related information to or from an aircraft
  • G08G5/0013—Transmission of traffic-related information to or from an aircraft with a ground station
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
  • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft, e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
  • G08G5/003—Flight plan management
  • G08G5/0039—Modification of a flight plan

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the monitoring, by a control authority, of the progress of the flight plan of an aircraft provided with a flight management system FMS ("Flight Management System” in English) and connected by a system of transmission of data to the supervisory authority. It is particularly relevant to air traffic management using the ATM system ("Air Traffic Management System” in English).
• Air traffic control authorities organize air traffic in the air volumes under their control from 4D flight plans, which are submitted to them in advance by aircraft crews. They verify that the different flight plans submitted are compatible with the safety of the different actors before approving them, then monitor, during their course, the deviations of the aircraft from the planned positions and give diversion instructions when these deviations tend to reconciliations between aircraft threatening their safety.
• a 4D flight plan defines a 3D trajectory skeleton (latitude longitude, altitude) associated with a route chronology by means of a sequence of waypoints WP (“WayPoint” in English) which are placed, on the route of the aircraft, at locations where flight constraints change and which are individually associated with various local flight constraints: altitude, speed, capture heading, escape heading, ground speed, speed constraints vertical, crossing date, etc.
• WP Waypoint
• the sequence of WP crossing points defines the lateral projection of the planned route.
• Local flight constraints determine the vertical projection of the planned route and the route chronology.
• the tracking of a flight plan by an aircraft consists of joining the WP waypoints in the order of their sequence by traversing a straight line between two successive WP waypoints ("Legs" in English), makes a segment of a large arc of a terrestrial circle, while respecting the local constraints associated with the waypoints WP delimiting the ends of the segment.
• the crew or the FMS flight management computer of an aircraft determines the 3D trajectory actually followed by the aircraft based on the 3D trajectory skeleton of the flight plan and the chronology of route specified in the flight plan, and taking into account the maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft and a desired degree of comfort. Taking into account the maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft and the desired comfort is reflected by the introduction, into the 3D trajectory actually followed by the aircraft, of transitions.
• air traffic control authorities use of non-cooperative means of locating aircraft such as primary radars but also of cooperative means enabling aircraft to be asked for information on their actual instantaneous positions such as voice communications with crews, secondary radars interrogating answering machines on-board or the ATM system in connection by data transmission with the flight management computers of aircraft.
• the FMS flight management computer of an aircraft provides on request the instantaneous position and the instantaneous speed vector of the aircraft as well as forecasts of date, altitude and crossing speed vector d '' a next WP waypoint, which allows air traffic control authorities to readjust an aircraft's position in relation to its flight plan to make it fit the real situation.
• an aircraft does not necessarily pass exactly at the right of a waypoint mentioned in its flight plan if overflight of the waypoint is not compulsory. In this case, the instant of crossing a crossing point is assimilated to the closest crossing instant.
• the object of the present invention is to improve the precision with which an air traffic control authority apprehends the positions and short-term trajectories of aircraft by allowing it to take account of the smoothed transitions embellishing the actual trajectories of aircraft between the consecutive segments. of their flight plans. Thanks to this increased precision, the control authority can either improve at constant traffic the effective separation distances between the aircraft operating in its space, or increase the traffic density for effective separation distances between aircraft unchanged.
• the flight plan known to the control authority consists of a series of waypoints WP associated with local flight constraints defining a skeleton of the trajectory to be followed and a chronology of the course to be observed.
• the control authority uses the flight plan to estimate the instantaneous position of the aircraft.
• the FMS flight management computer builds, from the trajectory skeleton and the route chronology specified in the flight plan, an effective trajectory with softened lateral and vertical transitions, dimensioned to take into account the maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft and a comfort setpoint, and identified by means of PWP pseudo-crossing points associated with local flight constraints, the position of a PWP pseudo-crossing point marking the start of a transition and the local constraints associated flight defining the properties of the transition.
• This method is remarkable in that the flight management computer FMS of the aircraft calculates the locations of the projections of the pseudo-waypoints PWP on the trajectory skeleton specified in the flight plan and communicates it by the data transmission link to the control authority which uses it to improve its estimation of the instantaneous position of the aircraft along its flight plan, and thus better ensure its mission of separation and separation of traffics.
• the flight management computer FMS of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints PWP onto the skeleton of the flight plan trajectory while preserving the distances, the distance to a waypoint WP from the projection of a pseudo PWP waypoint being equal to that separating the projected PWP pseudo-point from the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft closest to the considered point of passage.
• the flight management computer FMS of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints PWP onto the skeleton of the flight plan trajectory while preserving the distances measured in unit of length, the distance to a waypoint WP of the projection of a pseudo-waypoint PWP being equal to that separating the pseudo-waypoint PWP projected, from the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft closest to the waypoint considered.
• the flight management computer FMS of the aircraft projects the pseudo-waypoints PWP onto the skeleton of the flight plan trajectory while keeping equivalent, the distances measured in travel time, the travel time of a point of passage WP to the projection of a pseudo-point of passage PWP being taken equal to the time of the journey of the pseudo-point of passage PWP projected, at the point of the effective trajectory of the aircraft closest to the passage point considered.
• the flight management computer FMS of the aircraft communicates to the control authority, with the locations of the projections of the pseudo-crossing points PWP on the trajectory skeleton specified in the flight plan, indications of the nature and the magnitude of local flight setpoint changes associated with the projected PWP runway pseudopoints.
• FIG. 1 shows an example of architecture of an aircraft-ground system suitable for the implementation of the invention
• - a figure 2 is a diagram showing a trajectory actually followed with softened transitions and the corresponding flight plan portion, with the positions on the real trajectory considered as crossing WP waypoints and the positions on the flight plan communicated to ground control as pseudo-PWP waypoints.
• the aircraft-ground air traffic control system shown in FIG. 1 comprises a ground air traffic control station 2 in radio link with the flight management computers FMS 30 of the aircraft 1 circulating in the air volume under its responsibility.
• the flight management computer FMS 30 is on-board piloting equipment which acts on the behavior of an aircraft 1, by means of an automatic pilot and / or flight director FD / PA 20 and of control equipment. 11. Briefly, an aircraft is piloted by playing on the orientations of mobile aerodynamic surfaces (control surfaces, flaps, etc.) and on the speed of the propulsion engine (s).
• a first essential level of piloting equipment consisting of actuators 10 orienting the moving surfaces and adjusting the thrust of the engines and flight control equipment 11 (joystick, spreaders, joysticks, etc.) which develop position setpoints for the actuators 10 and which are manipulated directly or indirectly by the crew of the aircraft.
• a second level of piloting equipment constituted by the flight director / automatic pilot FD / AP20 ("Flight Director / automatic Pilot" in English) whose function is to facilitate the task of the crew by automating the monitoring of flight instructions such as heading, altitude, speed instructions ground, vertical speed, etc.
• the flight director / autopilot FD / AP 20 operates in two main modes: a so-called “flight director” mode where it indicates to the pilot, via EFIS 52 display screens ("Electronic Flight Instrument System” in the orders to be given to flight commands 11 for the follow-up of a flight instruction and a so-called “automatic pilot” mode where it acts directly on flight commands 11.
• EFIS 52 display screens Electronic Flight Instrument System
• automated pilot mode where it acts directly on flight commands 11.
• the flight management computer FMS 30 and the flight director / autopilot FD / AP 20 are configurable by the crew " by means of two man-machine interfaces, one 50 known as MCDU (" Multipurpose Control Display Unit “in Anglo-Saxon) resembling a calculator and allowing detailed configuration, and the other 51 known as FCU ("Flight Control Unit” in Anglo-Saxon) placed in strip at the base of the cockpit windshield and allowing a succinct configuration but easier than the MCDU 50.
• MCDU Multipurpose Control Display Unit
• FCU Flight Control Unit
• EFIS 52 displays they use flight information provided by flight sensors FS 40 ("flight sensors” in English) such as a barometric altimeter or a radio altimeter, an inertial unit or a satellite positioning receiver, air speed probes, etc.
• the aircraft has radio communication equipment AATNP 53 ("Airborne Aeronautical Telecommunication Network Part" in English) n) allowing it to use the ATN digital transmission network for information exchange with the ground.
• the air traffic control ground station 2 includes a traffic management device TM 60 (Traffic Management ”in English) associated with radiocommunication equipment GATNP 61 (“ Ground Aeronautical Telecommunication Network Part ”in English). Saxon).
• the crew of an aircraft chooses, to get from its starting point to its destination point, a 3D trajectory with instructions and speed constraints which induce a course chronology.
• the 3D trajectory with its chronology of course is constructed from a skeleton made up of a chain of segments of a large arc of a terrestrial circle connecting the points corresponding to changes in flight instructions known as WP waypoints.
• the waypoints WP and the local flight constraints associated with them constitute a document called flight plan intended on the one hand, for air traffic control authorities which uses it to estimate the theoretical position of the aircraft in the air volumes monitored and check that there is no risk of collision with other aircraft and, on the other hand, with the crew and the FMS flight management computer of the aircraft which use it for determine the trajectory and chronology of the course actually followed by the aircraft.
• the management computer of flight FMS 30 of an aircraft 1 provides it, via the aeronautical telecommunication network ATN of the ATM system (AATNP and GATNP equipment in FIG.
• FIG. 2 illustrates, in lateral projection, a portion of the LTFP flight plan consisting of four consecutive waypoints WPi-2, WPi-1, WPi and WPi + 1 with, for the latter, an imposed escape cap, for example, because it marks an entry to the runway.
• the flight management computer FMS chooses, for the aircraft, a trajectory LT M S with softened transitions, which straightens the sequence of the segments 100, 101, 102 of the flight plan to remain in the maneuverability domain of the aircraft and comply with a comfort requirement while sticking to the flight plan as best as possible.
• the FMS flight management computer softens the transition to the last waypoint WPi + 1 for taking the imposed exhaust course.
• the flight management computer FMS places, on this trajectory LTFM S , particular points PWPij assigned with double indexing, an indexing by an index i identifying the straight segment concerned and an index j identifying their order of succession on the straight segment concerned including the crossing points.
• These particular points PWPij called pseudo-crossing points which identify local flight instructions different from those associated with the crossing point when the pseudopoint is confused with a crossing point or changes in local flight instructions corresponding to the start of the maneuver transition points are not listed in the flight plan, unlike the waypoints WPi-2, WPi-1, WPi, WPi + 1.
• the broken arrival segment 100 there are two passing pseudopoints PWPi-2,2 and PWPi-2,3, marking the beginning and the end of the change of heading of the aircraft to pass from the heading setpoint associated with the waypoint WPi-2 to that associated with the waypoint WPi-1.
• the first PWPi-1, 2 there are two other pseudo-crossing points, the first PWPi-1, 2 corresponding to the start of a change of course maneuver of the aircraft to pass from the heading setpoint associated with the point waypoint WPi-1 to that associated with the waypoint WPi and the second PWPi-1, 3 corresponding to a start of descent in order to reach the altitude setpoint associated with the waypoint WPi + 1 supposed here to mark an entry runway.
• the first PWPi, 2 corresponding to a deceleration maneuver preparing for a landing
• the second PWPi, 3 marking the end of the course change maneuver carried out.
• the aircraft to maintain the heading setpoint associated with the waypoint WPi
• the third PWPi, 4 marking the start of a course change maneuver to allow effective overflight of the waypoint WPi + 1 with the set course
• the fifth PWPi, 5 marking the start of the course change maneuver making it possible to comply with the course instruction associated with overflight of the waypoint WPi + 1.
• the flight management computer FMS takes care to modify the local flight instructions at the aircraft crossings of these pseudo-crossing points PWPij.
• the flight management computer FMS communicates to the ground station, by the aeronautical digital transmission network ATN, a forecast of the date of crossing of the next waypoint WPi-2, WPi-1, WPi or WPi + 1 to be reached.
• the FMS flight management computer gives as a forecast of the date of crossing of the waypoint WPi, the planned date of the aircraft's passage at the point SWPi of its effective trajectory LT F MS-
• the FMS flight management computer signals the locations SPWPi-1, 3 to the air traffic control ground station; SPWPi, 2; SPWPi, 5 of the projections of the pseudo-points of passage PWPi-1, 3; PWPi, 2; PWPi, 5 that it uses, on the trajectory skeleton specified in the flight plan.
• Knowing the locations of the projection, on the flight plan, of the pseudo-crossing points where the aircraft begins transition maneuvers allows an air traffic control ground station to more precisely estimate the instantaneous position of an aircraft outside of the times when it performs transition maneuvers between two segments of the flight plan and adopt narrower protection corridors for the same degree of safety.
• the information given by the flight management computer FMS, on the locations of the projections, on the flight plan, of pseudo-crossing points is supplemented by indications on the nature and the extent of the local setpoint changes of flight associated with the planned pseudo-crossing points in order to indicate to the air traffic control ground station the direction in which the protective corridor associated with the aircraft must be deformed to maintain safety at the same level.
• the indications on the nature of the changes can consist in indicating that the indicated location is that of the projection on the skeletons of lateral and vertical trajectories of the flight plan of a passing pseudopoint corresponding to a start or end of a climb, a start or end of a descent, a vertical speed change, a turn, etc.
• the indications on the 'extent of changes may consist of the radius of curvature of a turn and its opening (change of course sought), on the rate of slope adopted at the start of ascent or descent, etc.

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• 2003
  • 2003-11-04 FR FR0312930A patent/FR2861871B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2004
  • 2004-11-03 WO PCT/EP2004/052761 patent/WO2005045785A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2004-11-03 EP EP04818150A patent/EP1690242A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-11-03 AU AU2004287086A patent/AU2004287086A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-11-03 US US10/578,300 patent/US7433779B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

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