JP7340845B2 - Low-level wind information system - Google Patents

Description

Application of Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Act (1) July 28, 2018, Tottori Sand Dunes Conan Airport Grand Opening Event, Tottori Airport (2) November 14, 2018, 56th Airplane Symposium Lecture Proceedings, Lecture number 2D08, Japan Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Japan Aerospace Technology Association (3) November 15, 2018, 56th Airplane Symposium, Yamagata Telsa (4) November 14, 2018, World Publication Competition 2018 winning company brochure, Tokyo Big Sight (5) November 14, 2018, Industrial Exchange Exhibition 2018, Tokyo Big Sight (6) November 28, 2018, International Aerospace Exhibition 2018 Tokyo, Tokyo Big Sight site

The present invention relates to a low-level wind information providing system that provides information regarding low-level winds.

The presence of airflow disturbances such as wind shear and turbulence on the takeoff and landing routes of aircraft impede safe takeoff and landing. In particular, if there is large airflow turbulence on the landing path at the landing airport, a go-around, which involves temporarily abandoning the landing, may occur, which impedes the smooth operation of the aircraft. Disturbances in airflow in relatively low-height areas (low-rise areas) near runways have a significant impact on takeoff and landing, so it is desirable to accurately provide information regarding these disturbances to aircraft pilots. If accurate information can be provided to pilots and others, it will be possible to reduce the number of go-arounds and increase the number of flights in service, which will bring significant economic benefits. Since the present invention relates to the provision of information to aircraft in operation, this specification uses feet (ft: 1 ft = 30 .48cm) is used, and knots (kt: 1 kt is 1.852 km/h) are used as the unit for speed.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as a technique for measuring airflow around an airport, there is a technique in which an observation tower with a height of about 10 m is installed on the grounds of an airport to observe wind direction and wind speed. However, with this method, it is not possible to know the state of the wind in the sky, and it is particularly difficult to obtain information about wind disturbances. Methods for observing wind disturbances at airports include Doppler radar that uses microwaves and Doppler lidar that uses laser light, but these are both expensive to install and are not suitable for large airports with many takeoffs and landings. Can only be installed. In addition, Doppler radar is difficult to observe in clear skies, while Doppler lidar is difficult to observe in rainy weather, so it is necessary to combine Doppler radar and Doppler lidar in order to observe wind disturbances regardless of the weather. , it is difficult to match data from radar with data from lidar, and installation costs are even higher because two observation devices are used.

Doppler sodars, which use sound waves or acoustic beams, have the advantage of being inexpensive to install and can be installed at small airports. Patent Document 1 discloses a bistatic Doppler sodar system that combines one transducer and at least two receivers, both of which are phased array type, and has a height of, for example, 200 m (approximately 660 ft). ) discloses a system that makes it possible to three-dimensionally determine wind direction and wind speed in a range up to The Doppler soda system described in Patent Document 1 can monitor the occurrence of wind shear, downburst, and wake turbulence when placed around a runway. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 uses a Doppler sodar to determine the vertical velocity of the wind in the sky, and based on the wind velocity at each height, the Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR), which is an index representing the degree of turbulence in the atmosphere, is used. It discloses that the rate can be easily calculated in real time. Since Doppler radar, Doppler lidar, and Doppler soda can remotely measure the direction and speed of the wind, they will be collectively referred to as wind remote observation devices below.

Patent Document 3 discloses a system that provides information regarding low-level winds to the cockpit of an aircraft in flight to support the landing decision of the aircraft. The landing decision support system of Patent Document 3 includes a graph screen that includes a graph showing changes in the head-on wind component of the wind speed along the runway direction on the landing route with respect to altitude, and a screen that displays the change in the wind speed at each predetermined altitude on the landing route. A tabular screen including a table showing headwind components is generated and displayed on a cockpit display device or the like. The displayed graphs and tables are generated based on wind direction and wind speed data at multiple predetermined altitudes on the landing route acquired by weather sensors such as Doppler radar, and are based on the latest and past head-on winds below the specified altitude. It represents a change in components.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-58193 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-185850 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-162514

For safe takeoff and landing, it is also important to know the wind conditions at relatively low heights near the runway, especially the presence or absence of vertical currents (downdrafts and updrafts) and their strength. . The landing decision support system disclosed in Patent Document 3 also does not provide information regarding vertical flow.

An object of the present invention is to provide a low-level wind information providing system that can provide information regarding low-level winds including information regarding vertical currents.

The low-level wind information providing system of the present invention is a low-level wind information providing system that provides information about wind in an area from the ground surface to a predetermined height at an observation location, and includes three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed at each height at the observation location. It has a wind remote observation device that observes the wind, and an information provision server that converts the observation data from the wind remote observation device into data for provision.The data for provision includes changes in the horizontal component of the wind and vertical flow components. The change in the horizontal component and the strength of the vertical flow component above the threshold, along with the height at which a value above the threshold is observed Contains information indicating that it was observed.

According to the present invention, by observing the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed, information on the headwind component of the wind speed along the runway direction and the crosswind component perpendicular to the runway direction, as well as information on the vertical flow, can be obtained. It becomes possible to provide information regarding wind.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a low-level wind information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display on a navigation support terminal. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the content of a text sentence sent to an aircraft. It is a figure which shows an example of a history screen. It is a figure explaining the graph regarding the vertical flow in a history screen, Comprising: (a) and (b) are graphs which show the change of an upward flow and a downward flow, respectively. 6 is a graph corresponding to the history screen of FIG. 5 and showing changes in the strength of vertical flow for each height. It is a figure which shows the example of evaluation using a history screen. It is a graph showing the difference in the strength of the vertical flow due to the difference in the averaging time.

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a low-level wind information providing system based on the present invention. This low-level wind information provision system 10 is designed to provide information on a height range from the ground surface at the end of the runway to a predetermined height (for example, 300 ft) including the landing decision height (DH), in order to be useful for aircraft operations. This information is provided to flight support terminals 42 used by aircraft pilots and airline ground staff. The information provided should include information regarding vertical flow. In order to observe wind conditions at each height, the low-level wind information providing system of this embodiment uses a wind remote observation device. As a remote wind observation device, it is possible to use Doppler radar or Doppler lidar. However, Doppler radar and Doppler lidar usually observe airflow by irradiating microwave beams or laser light at an elevation angle of about 3 degrees, matching the general approach angle of aircraft to the runway. Although it is suitable for detecting disturbances in horizontal winds in the range of km, it is not necessarily suitable for detecting vertical flows at low levels near runways. In order to observe vertical currents using Doppler radar and Doppler lidar, in addition to Doppler radar and Doppler lidar, which monitor the weather conditions on the approach route of the aircraft, meteorological equipment to observe vertical currents is required. It is necessary to separately provide a sensor, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost. Therefore, in this embodiment, a case will be described in which a Doppler soda observation device 20 is used as a wind remote observation device that is also provided in a low-level wind information providing system.

The low-level wind information providing system 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a Doppler soda observation device 20 located near the end of the runway at an airport, and provides data based on observation data obtained by the Doppler soda observation device 20. and an information providing server 30 that generates the information. The Doppler soda observation device 20 and the information providing server 30 are connected via a network 41 that does not need to be included in the low-level wind information providing system 10. As the network 41, the Internet can be used in addition to a dedicated line network. The data to be provided is provided to the network 41 in the form of a graphical user interface, that is, in the form of screen data displayed on the display screen of the flight support terminal 42, to the flight support terminal 42 used by the ground staff of the airline. For the pilot of the aircraft, the generated text is sent via the network 41 to the aviation radio system 43, for example, ACARS (automatic communications addressing and reporting system), and from the aviation radio system 43 to the aircraft pilot. sent to. The flight support terminal 42 is configured with, for example, a personal computer and is capable of interactive operation, and in addition to displaying screen data from the information providing server 20, it also issues commands to the information providing server 20 using a graphical user interface. It is also possible to input. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the same control PC ( A personal computer (personal computer) 40 may also be connected. Note that although the network 41 is depicted as being distributed at a plurality of locations in FIG. 1, the network 41 shown in FIG. 1 may be a single network as a whole. Note that the flight support terminal 42 and the aviation radio system 43 may be existing ones, and if they are existing, messages etc. can be directly sent from the flight support terminal 42 to the aircraft side via the aviation radio system 43. It is now possible to do so.

The Doppler soda observation device 20 is provided to observe wind disturbances in a range from the ground surface to a height of, for example, 300 feet near the end of the runway. The information providing server 30 is connected via a network 41 to the Doppler soda observation device 20 installed in the restricted access area of the airport, and is connected to the terminal building, administration building, etc. at the airport, as well as the Internet as the network 41. If used, it can be installed on an external server outside the airport. As the Doppler soda observation device 20, a bistatic Doppler soda system having a phased array type transducer and receiver, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, can be preferably used. The Doppler soda observation device 20 uses the bistatic Doppler soda system described in Patent Document 1, and the Doppler soda observation device 20 emits an acoustic beam into the sky and receives scattered waves from the acoustic beam. A transducer 21, at least two receivers 22 and 23 that receive scattered waves from the acoustic beam radiated from the transducer, a control unit 24 that controls the entire Doppler soda observation device 20, and a transceiver 21; A data conversion unit 25 transmits observation data from the observation results of the transducer 21 and the transducers 22 and 23 to the information providing server 30 via the network 41; It includes a sodar drive section 26 that drives an observation unit consisting of wave devices 22 and 23. The control PC 40 is connected to the control unit 24 via the network 41. A remote administrator can access the control unit 24 of the Doppler soda observation device 20 from the control PC 40 via the network 41, and performs operational control of the Doppler soda observation device 20, monitoring and collection of observation data, etc. be able to. In particular, since the control unit 24 can control the sodar drive unit 26, the administrator can change the operating parameters of the Doppler soda observation device 20 from the control PC 40. The operating parameters will be described later.

In the illustrated example, the Doppler soda observation device 20 is installed on the ground near the 01 end of the runway 50 at the airport so as not to interfere with aircraft operations. When the landing direction of the aircraft on the runway 50 is determined, the Doppler soda observation device 20 is provided close to the end of the runway 50 on the landing approach side. In the illustrated example, two wave receivers 22 and 23 are arranged such that the angle formed by them with the wave transducer 21 therebetween is, for example, 90°.

In the present embodiment, as described in Patent Document 1, the Doppler soda observation device 20 observes the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed in the sky above the installation location at a height of 30 feet, for example, at intervals of 3 seconds. I can do it. In particular, by having a phased array type configuration, the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed above the end position of the runway 50 can be adjusted to a predetermined height (e.g. It can be observed every 30ft). Hereinafter, the installation location of the Doppler soda observation device 20 or the end of the runway 50, where the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed above the location are observed, will be referred to as an observation location. In this embodiment, the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed are observed at each height (referred to as observation height) of, for example, 70 ft, 100 ft, 130 ft, 160 ft, 200 ft, 230 ft, 260 ft, and 300 ft above the end of the runway 50. It shall be. Separately, the wind direction and speed in the horizontal direction at a height of 6 feet at the observation location will also be measured. Wind direction and wind speed in three dimensions are not only the wind direction and wind speed in the horizontal plane, but also the vertical component of the wind flow, that is, the vertical flow, and the wind speed in the upward direction (upward flow) and downward direction (downward flow). means to ask. From the Doppler soda observation device 20, observation data of the wind direction and wind speed in the horizontal component of the wind, and observation data of the direction (upward flow or downward flow) and size of the vertical flow are provided to the information providing server 30 for each height. sent regularly. When expressing the strength of a vertical flow including its direction, a positive value represents an upward flow, and a negative value represents a downward flow.

Although the Doppler soda observation device 20 can observe the three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed at each height above the end of the runway 50, it is difficult to know the weather conditions in an area of, for example, several kilometers around the airport. I can't. When an airline company or the like considers a flight plan, the weather conditions around the airport are also useful, so in the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment, the information providing server 30 provides information about the weather conditions around the airport. It is possible to acquire external data and display it on the flight support terminal 42. As external data, precipitation intensity distribution data in mesh format provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency can be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing server 30 includes a control unit 31 that controls the entire information providing server 30, a storage unit 33 that stores observation data received from the Doppler soda observation device 20, and a navigation support terminal. 42 and a screen generation section 34 that receives commands from the flight support terminal 42 and generates screen data to be displayed on the flight support terminal 42, and a message generation section 35 that generates a text to be transmitted to the aircraft via the aviation radio system 43. ing. The information providing server 30 provides the flight support terminal 42 with current and past observation data from the Doppler soda observation device 20 and precipitation intensity distribution data obtained from outside in response to a request from the flight support terminal 42. It functions as a web server. The control PC 40 is connected to the control unit 31 via the network 41. The control unit 31 can change threshold parameters for creating data to be provided when the information providing server 30 provides information to the flight support terminal 42 or aircraft. Therefore, when a remote administrator provides data including alert information to an aircraft according to a threshold defined by wind speed, etc., a remote administrator can provide the data by operating the control PC 40. The time threshold can be changed.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen 61 generated by the screen generation unit 34 and displayed on the display device of the navigation support terminal 42. In FIG. 2, the screen is explained using circled characters, but in this specification, the circled characters are expressed by sandwiching the characters between "[" and "]". For example, the circled character "X" is represented as "[X]". On the screen 61 shown in FIG. 2, information about the runway number 01 (RWY) of the airport whose airport code is RJXX is displayed. If Doppler soda observation devices 20 are installed on both sides of the runway, information about the 19th end of the same runway can also be provided, so select the runway number from the pull-down menu indicated by [A]. be able to. If the airport has multiple runways, other runways can be selected as well.

In the screen 61 shown in FIG. 2, information about the wind (WIND) observed by the Doppler soda observation device 20 is displayed, but if you select RAIN from the pull-down menu shown by [B], you can select is transmitted to the screen generation unit 34, and in response, the screen generation unit 34 takes in the precipitation intensity data and causes the flight support terminal 42 to display an image of the precipitation intensity distribution in, for example, a 250m mesh around the airport. Area [C] of the screen 61 indicates the observation time (OBS. TIME). In the illustrated example, the time is displayed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), but it is also possible to display it in an appropriate local time. [D] is a toggle button for selecting whether to use automatic update mode. In the automatic update mode, the latest observation data is displayed on the screen 61, and the screen 61 is updated as time passes. On the other hand, when the automatic update mode is canceled, if a past date and time are input in the input frame in which the time is displayed in area [C], the input is accepted by the screen generation unit 34, and the screen The generation unit 34 reads the wind observation data on the input date and time from the storage unit 33, generates a display screen based on the read observation data, and displays it on the flight support terminal 42. Area [E] displays icon buttons and the like for displaying temporal changes in wind conditions through animation on the screen 61. When the animation display is executed, for example, changes in the wind from 60 minutes ago (-60Min) to the latest observation time will be displayed on the screen 61.

In the screen 61, [1] shows the horizontal wind condition at each height (AGL) at the observation location, specifically the wind direction (DIR), wind speed (SPD), head-on wind component speed (HW), and crosswind component. The velocity (XW) of "GND" indicates the wind direction and wind speed at a height of 6 feet at the observation location. These observations are based on normal aviation weather practices and are presented as 2-minute averages. Although not included in the illustrated example, if, for example, the maximum value of the speed of the headwind component or the crosswind component is greater than their average value by, for example, 10 kt or more, that fact is displayed as a gust. Similarly, if the amount of change in the headwind component or crosswind component per height is greater than a predetermined value, for example, when the height differs by 100 ft, the average value of the speed of the headwind component or crosswind component is For example, when there is a difference of 10 kt or more, that fact is displayed as wind shear (high shear). [2] is a graph showing the height distribution of the head-on wind component at the observation location, and [3] is a graph showing the height distribution of the cross-wind component. In [2] and [3], the thin solid line indicates 0kt, the thick solid line indicates the average value, and the dotted line indicates the maximum value and minimum value. In the actual screen 61, not only the solid lines and dotted lines are different, but also the display colors are different, so that they can be easily identified. Further, in the graphs [2] and [3], it is preferable to highlight the altitude zone where the occurrence of gust or wind shear is detected by changing the background color of the portion corresponding to that altitude zone. The threshold value for detecting gust or wind shear (high shear) can be changed by control from the control PC 40, as described above. In addition, the display position of the numerical value indicating the height (AGL) in the vertical direction in [1] is a position according to the height from the ground, and is explained below in [2] and [3]. It also corresponds to each height on the height axis in the graph of [4].

On the screen 61, [4] graphically displays the state of the vertical current in the sky above the observation location. Since it is not a wind component in the horizontal direction, it is not intuitive for flight crews to express vertical flow in kt (knots), which is a unit of distance per time; In total, vertical flow is expressed in units of ft/minute (or fpm (feet per minute)). The strength of the vertical current can be expressed as an average value over a 2-minute period, similar to the horizontal wind. However, as will be described later, it has been found that for vertical flow, a shorter averaging time provides better information to assist the pilot in landing operations. For example, it is preferable to express the strength of the vertical flow as an average over one minute. In the example shown in Fig. 2, when the strength of the vertical flow is, for example, 300 ft/min or more, a downward arrow, for example a red arrow, is shown if the vertical flow is a downward flow, and a red arrow pointing downward is shown to alert the user when the vertical flow is a downward flow. If so, an upward arrow, for example blue, will be shown. The descent rate of a typical jet airliner when landing is about 700ft/min, and if the descent rate is more than 1000ft/min, it cannot be called a stabilized approach, so between 1000ft/min and 700ft/min. The difference of 300 ft/min can be used as a threshold value for determining whether or not to display an arrow to indicate that there is a strong vertical current component. This threshold value can be changed depending on the topographical situation of the airport, the size of the aircraft in operation, etc.

In the area [5] on the screen 61, when a gust, wind shear, or a strong vertical current component is detected, an information sentence indicating a wind change is displayed to call attention. Since the display of this information text is for calling attention, it continues for at least a predetermined period of time (for example, 10 minutes) after the occurrence of a gust or the like is detected, unless a new event occurs. The illustrated example shows that at 5:46 UTC (0 minutes ago), a downdraft (DN DFT) of -500 ft/min was observed between a height of 300 ft and 100 ft.

The button labeled "ACARS" in [6] is for creating and displaying a text message (telegram) compatible with the Aeronautical Radio System (ACARS) 43. By clicking the "ACARS" button on the screen 61, the screen generation section 34 of the information providing server 30 notifies the message generation section 35 of the message generation section 35, and the message generation section 35 generates a text regarding the current wind conditions. Create automatically. This text is in a format that can be transmitted via the aviation radio system 43. The created text sentence is transmitted to the flight support terminal 42 via the screen generation unit 34, and displayed on the flight support terminal 42 as a separate screen. FIG. 3 shows an example of a created text sentence. The content of this text sentence is basically the display content of [1], [2], [3], [4], and [5] on the screen 61 shown in FIG. 2 expressed in text format. The graphs [2] and [3] are also represented graphically by using monospaced characters. The fact that a downward arrow is displayed in the area [4] of the screen 61 in relation to the vertical flow is indicated by "DN" in the text. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the fact that an upward arrow is displayed in the area [4] is indicated by "UP" in the text sentence.

When the text corresponding to the aeronautical radio system 43 is displayed on the flight support terminal 42, the text can be transmitted via the aeronautical radio system 43 by copying and pasting the text to the ACARS information transmission software owned by the operator. This text can then be sent to an aircraft in flight. Furthermore, it is also possible to directly transmit a text message regarding the current wind conditions from the message generator 35 to the aircraft via the aeronautical radio system 43. By making it possible to send text directly to an aircraft, it would be possible to immediately send a text regarding wind conditions to the aircraft upon request from the aircraft, without going through the airline's ground staff. Become. If an in-flight Wi-Fi system connected to the Internet can be used on an aircraft, it is also possible to view the screen 61 in the cockpit of the aircraft. In the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment, based on the observation data of the vertical flow component of the wind in the upper atmosphere by the Doppler soda observation device 20, Information indicating whether the vertical flow component is upward flow or downward flow (displayed with upward and downward arrows, or indicated as "UP" and "DN") and when indicating the rate of climb or descent of the aircraft. Since the data is provided in such a way as to include information indicating the strength of the vertical flow component expressed in the same unit (i.e. ft/min or fpm), the data is provided in a format that is useful for aircraft operations, especially during landing. information can be provided to the terminal 42.

In the area [7] on the screen 61 shown in FIG. 2, numerical values regarding the horizontal wind for each minute and height for the past five minutes are displayed. The numerical values shown here are 2-minute average values of wind direction, wind speed, headwind component, and crosswind component. When gusts or wind shear are observed, display cells containing the relevant numerical values are highlighted, for example, by changing colors. The "History" button shown in [8] is used to display a history screen showing wind information over a predetermined period of time (for example, 12 hours) in the past on the flight support terminal 42. The history screen will be described later. In the area [9], a map of the area around the airport where the low-level wind information providing system 10 is installed is displayed. In this map, the installation location of the Doppler soda observation device 20 is shown as "Observation Point."

Next, the history screen will be explained. When the "History" button on the screen 61 in FIG. 2 is clicked, a history screen 62, an example of which is shown in FIG. 4, is displayed. The history screen 62 is generated by the screen generation unit 34 of the information providing server 30 by reading observation data from the storage unit 33, and in the automatic update mode, it displays the wind over a predetermined period of time in the past ending at the current time. This shows the information. When the automatic update mode is canceled, wind information for a predetermined period of time in the past whose end point is the time specified in area [C] of the screen 61 at that time is displayed. Here, the predetermined time can be selected from, for example, 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours by clicking the button 63 on the history screen 62. You can choose. A button 63 labeled "BACK" is used to return to the original screen 61.

The history screen 62 shown in FIG. 4 shows the results of observing wind conditions for one hour from 2:30 to 3:30 UTC on a certain day. The top graph 71 shows the horizontal component wind speed for each height, and the second graph 72 shows the horizontal component wind direction for each height. The observation results shown in the diagram show that the wind was blowing from the west-northwest to the northwest, and the wind speed was as high as 20 to 25 kt at a height of 200 feet. Gusts have been confirmed to occur during this time period.

The bottom graph 73 shows the height distribution of the strength of the vertical flow, with the vertical axis representing height and the horizontal axis representing time, and the stronger the vertical flow, the darker the color. On the actual screen, upward flow is shown in blue and downward flow is shown in red, but since FIG. 4 is a color image expressed in gray scale, it is not possible to distinguish between upward flow and downward flow from this figure. Therefore, FIG. 5(a) shows an extracted blue component of the graph 73 shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 5(b) shows an extracted red component. In what is shown in FIG. 5, strong upward flow is observed at time 2:47 (arrow a), time 2:57 (arrow b), and time 3:29 (arrow c). Figure 6 is the source data for the graph shown in Figure 4, and shows the strength of the vertical current at each height in the time range shown in Figure 4, excluding the first 10 minutes. It shows the change over time. Arrows a to c in FIG. 6 indicate the same times as arrows a to c in FIG. 4, respectively. Note that the graph shown in FIG. 6 shows the strength of the vertical flow on a 2-minute average. In particular, it has been reported that at 2:56 and 3:30, an aircraft approaching the airport felt a strong updraft and made corrections to its flight maneuvers. It was found that the strength of the vertical current obtained by the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment generally corresponds to the experience experienced by a pilot actually flying an aircraft.

According to the low-level wind information providing system 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to obtain information about the state of vertical currents at low levels, which has a great impact on the operation of aircraft taking off and landing at airports, and It will be possible to accurately evaluate the impact. By issuing a warning when the strength of the vertical flow exceeds a certain threshold (for example, 300 ft/min), the low-level wind information providing system 10 can contribute to safer aircraft operation. . In addition, in the event of a go-around, it is possible to quantitatively know the wind conditions at the time of the go-around from the history screen 62, which is useful for verifying the validity of pilot operations, and also useful for flight training when low-level winds prevail. The information providing system 10 is effective.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which wind conditions during a clear day are displayed as a history screen 62 at an airport located near the coast. Here, the time is expressed in local time, and wind conditions are shown for 6 hours from 7:00 to 13:00. Again, the top graph shows the wind speed in the horizontal component, the second graph shows the wind direction in the horizontal component, and the third graph shows the height distribution of the strength of the vertical flow. Although this airport is susceptible to the effects of land and sea winds, overall horizontal winds are calm with less than about 10 kt. As can be seen from the large change in wind direction, the wind direction changed from land breeze to sea breeze between 9:30 and 10:00. At the timing of this change in wind direction, a strong upward and downward flow is observed in the vertical flow. From this, it can be seen that this airport is characterized by a strong vertical current blowing even when the horizontal wind is weak due to changes in the wind direction of the land and sea winds. Until now, the characteristics of each airport have been qualitatively known based on the experience of multiple pilots, but according to the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment, by using the history screen 62, It becomes possible to quantitatively understand the characteristics of each airport regarding vertical flow.

Next, the averaging time for determining the time average of the strength of the vertical current in the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment will be explained. As mentioned above, in the field of aviation meteorology, for horizontal winds, two-minute average values for both wind direction and wind speed, that is, moving average values with an averaging time of two minutes, are widely used. However, according to studies conducted by the present inventors, it has been found that it is preferable that the averaging time used to represent the strength of the vertical flow be shorter than 2 minutes. FIG. 8 shows the results of averaging the actual observation data regarding the strength of the vertical flow used in generating the history screen 63 shown in FIG. 4 over different averaging times. In this example, a strong updraft is observed at time 2:57, and at approximately the same time, 2:56, the aircraft on approach to landing also senses the updraft and corrects its maneuver. Figure 8 is a graph showing the strength of the vertical flow for each height for 10 minutes from time 2:50 to time 3:00, including time 2:56, and (a) shows the strength as a 2-minute average. (b) represents the strength as an average for 1 minute, and (c) represents the strength as an average for 30 seconds. If the averaging time is 2 minutes, it will not be considered a strong vertical flow, but if the averaging time is 1 minute, it will be detected as a vertical current that exceeds the threshold of 300 ft/min, and the averaging time will be 30 seconds. If so, it is detected as a vertical current exceeding 400 ft/min.

Examining the relationship between the event that an aircraft felt a strong vertical current and the event that the low-level wind information provision system 10 detected a strong vertical current, it was found that if the averaging time was 2 minutes, the strong vertical current felt by the aircraft There were cases where vertical currents could not be detected by the low-level wind information providing system 10, but by setting the averaging time to 1 minute, the strong vertical currents detected on the aircraft side and the strong vertical currents detected by the low-level wind information providing system 10 can be easily detected. are now roughly in agreement. If the aircraft is small, it will be more susceptible to wind disturbances on a smaller scale. An averaging time of, for example, 30 seconds may be preferred. Therefore, when operating the low-level wind information providing system 10 of this embodiment for a passenger plane-sized aircraft, it is considered that the averaging time for horizontal winds may remain at 2 minutes, but for vertical winds, the average Preferably, the curing time is less than 2 minutes, for example 1 minute.

Next, the control of the Doppler soda observation device 20 by the control unit 24 and the soda drive unit 26 provided in the Doppler soda observation device 20 and the setting of its operating parameters will be explained. Since the Doppler soda observation device 20 itself is normally installed near the end of the runway 50, it is difficult to approach it during airport operating hours. On the other hand, the Doppler soda observation device 20 uses a phased array type transducer 21 and receivers 22 and 23, and can set and control measurement altitude, measurement frequency, acoustic output, acoustic pulse width, etc. be. As described above, in this embodiment, the sodar drive unit 26 is controlled by the controller 24, and the control PC 40 is connected to the controller 24 via the network 41, and the Doppler soda observation device 20 is connected to the controller 24 via the network 41. Can be controlled remotely. The parameters that can be set and the contents of control that can be executed by control from the control PC 40 are as follows.

(1) Optimization of acoustic output and acoustic pulse width according to changes in measurement altitude:
Since the Doppler soda observation device 20 uses sound waves, it may not be possible to measure to a required height depending on the surrounding environment. If the measurement altitude is insufficient, the detection ability is improved by increasing the output of the transmitted acoustic beam or widening the pulse width. In normal times, the Doppler soda observation device 20 is operated in a mode in which the acoustic output is reduced (power save mode) in order to reduce sound leakage to the surroundings.

(2) Maintaining the measurement function that avoids the ambient acoustic noise band and fixed reflections by changing the frequency If measurements are made using the same frequency as the ambient noise, highly accurate measurements cannot be made. Furthermore, it is desirable to reduce the influence of reflected waves from fixed objects around the Doppler soda observation device 20. By changing the frequency of the acoustic beam, the effects of ambient noise can be reduced, and the beam pattern can be changed to reduce the effects of reflected waves from fixed objects.

(3) Optimization of receiver sensitivity in response to changes in acoustic element sensitivity and echo intensity:
The sensitivity of the acoustic elements used in the transducer 21 and the receivers 22 and 23 may decrease due to changes over time. Also, depending on environmental conditions, echoes from the wind above may remain weak. When the sensitivity of the acoustic element decreases or the echo remains weak as described above, the receiving sensitivity of the transducer 21 and the receivers 22 and 23 is increased.

(4) Changing to the optimal beam pattern by changing the taper coefficient during phase synthesis:
As described in Patent Document 1, in the phased array type Doppler soda observation device 20, phase synthesis of signals is performed for each of the transducer 21 and the receivers 22 and 23. Phase synthesis uses a parameter called a taper coefficient (also called a shading coefficient), but by changing the taper coefficient, it is possible to change to a more optimal beam pattern and reduce the influence of reflected waves from fixed objects. It is possible to increase power by avoiding this or improving directivity. By changing the taper coefficient, the directivity at the center of the acoustic beam becomes sharper, making it possible to increase the power by, for example, about 9 dB. However, when the power is increased in this way, the side lobes in the directivity may increase, making it easier to pick up reflections from surrounding fixed objects.

(5) Change settings for device operating hours in response to changes in airport operating hours, etc.:
Since the Doppler soda observation device 20 is a device that generates sound waves, it may be preferable to stop operating it outside of airport operating hours. For this reason, the start and stop of the Doppler soda observation device 20 may be controlled in advance using a built-in timer, etc., but if the operating hours of the airport change, the start time and stop time of the Doppler soda observation device 20 may be controlled in advance. must be changed. Therefore, the start time and stop time set by the built-in timer of the soda drive unit 26 are changed according to settings from the control unit 24.

By using the low-level wind information provision system 10 described above, it becomes possible to accurately know the low-level wind conditions at the observation location, including not only horizontal flow but also vertical flow conditions, and when installed at an airport. This not only reduces the number of go-arounds and improves the service rate, but also saves fuel that would otherwise be consumed by go-arounds and diversions.

10 Low-level wind information provision system 20 Doppler soda observation system 21 Transducer/receiver 22, 23 Receiver 24, 31 Control section 25 Data conversion section 26 Sauder drive section 30 Information provision server 33 Storage section 34 Screen generation section 35 Telegram generation section 40 Control PC
41 Network 42 Flight support terminal 43 Aeronautical radio system (ACARS)
50 Runway 61 Screen 62 History screen

Claims (10)

A low-level wind information provision system that provides information about wind in an area from the ground surface to a predetermined height at an observation location,
a wind remote observation device that observes three-dimensional wind direction and wind speed at each height at the observation location;
an information provision server that converts observation data from the wind remote observation device into data for provision;
has
The data to be provided is the height of the observed height when the change in the horizontal component of the wind and the strength of the vertical component are equal to or greater than the threshold value by comparing them with a threshold value. The low-level wind information providing system includes information indicating that a change in the horizontal component and a strength of the vertical flow component exceeding the threshold value have been observed. The data for provision includes data on wind direction and wind speed for each height in the horizontal component of the wind averaged in the first averaging time,
The strength of the vertical flow component is averaged by a second averaging time shorter than the first averaging time and compared with the threshold.
The low-level wind information providing system according to claim 1. The low-level wind information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the first averaging time is 2 minutes or more, and the second averaging time is 30 seconds or more and 2 minutes or less. The provided data includes information indicating whether the vertical flow component is an upflow or a downflow, and the strength of the vertical flow component expressed in the same units as when expressing the rate of climb or descent of the aircraft. The low-level wind information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising: information indicating a low level wind. The low-level wind system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the information providing server includes a message generation unit that generates the providing data in the form of an aviation radio text based on the observation data. Information provision system. The information providing server includes a screen generation unit that generates the data to be provided as screen data to be displayed in a graphical user interface format on a display device of a terminal based on the observed data, and The low-rise wind information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which transmits information to the terminal. The information providing server has a storage unit that stores the past observation data,
When a request is received from the terminal, the screen generation unit generates a first graph showing the temporal change in wind speed for each height in the horizontal component of the wind, and a graph showing the horizontal component of the wind. Generate history screen data including a second graph showing time changes in wind direction for each height, and a third graph showing time changes in the strength of the vertical flow component for each height;
The low-level wind information providing system according to claim 6, wherein data on the history screen is transmitted to the terminal. The third graph, with height on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis, indicates whether the vertical flow component is an upward flow or a downward flow using different colors, and also indicates the strength of the vertical flow component. The low-level wind information providing system according to claim 7, wherein the graph is a graph in which color density changes depending on the absolute value. The remote wind observation device includes a first control unit that sets operating parameters of the remote wind observation device in response to a remote command,
The information providing server according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising a second control unit that changes a threshold value when providing the data for provision in response to a remote command. Low-level wind information system. The low-level wind information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the wind remote observation device is a Doppler soda observation device.