Thomson-csf Sextant

Fabien Inglese

Fabienne Bonhoure

A method for generating a horizontal path for the avoidance of danger zones for an aircraft. The method models the contours of each danger zone by a succession of segments demarcated by points. The method determines two homing circles and two capture circles passing respectively through the initial point and final point which are tangential respectively to the initial route and to the final route and have respectively the initial and final turning radius. The method also determines tangents both to the homing circles or the capture circles and to the contour of each danger zone. Among these tangents, a pair of tangents to a homing circle and to a capture circle are selected, defining a path skeleton connecting a homing circle to a capture circle without meeting a danger zone. And, an automatically controllable evasion path that lies on the previously defined path skeleton is then determined.

Method for generating a horizontal path avoiding dangerous zones for an aircraft

This method meets the constraints dictated by the instructed values of turning radius and by the instructed values of direction of approach in terms of route or course to be maintained at the obligatory points of passage. It includes, at the obligatory starting and arrival points of passage, in determining the turning paths that meet the instructed turning radius at these points. These turning paths are located, at each of the obligatory points of passage, on a pair of circles that are tangential to the points of passage, according to the instructed direction of approach valid at this point and oriented in this direction. Once these turning paths have been determined, a selection is made, from among them, according to simple rules, of an initial homing turning path and a final capture path that can be connected by a rectilinear linking path to go from the obligatory starting point of passage to the obligatory arrival point of passage while seeking the shortest possible distance of travel. This method is advantageous because it requires only low computation capacity and can be implemented by the flight management systems with which the present generation of aircraft are fitted out. It also provides for the precise and constantly updated pre-setting of the route followed by the aircraft during a mission, taking account of the obligatory points of passage, and hence for precise estimates of the scheduling of the mission and of the quantity of fuel needed for the mission.

Method for horizontal routing of an aircraft between two waypoints

A process for real-time reconfiguring of trajectories or airborne vehicles in order to adapt a mission to suit a new situation that has arisen through the occurrence of a disrupting event. The process updates real-time context data modified by the occurrence of the disrupting event and analyzes the new real-time context thus obtained in order to select a predefined reconfiguration method chosen from a set of different predefined methods stored in memory, each of these methods directly translating operational strategies customarily employed by aircrew in a given real-time context so as to determine a new trajectory which best suits the current real-time context. The process then executes the selected predefined method, which determines a new trajectory according to the mission data and the real-time context, displays the new trajectory on a display, overlayed on the current trajectory and, if the pilot of the airborne vehicle validates this new trajectory, transmits the information of this new trajectory to an automatic pilot device.

Growing community of inventors

Issy les Moulineaux, France

Fabien Inglese