Thales

Other

Guy Deker

François Coulmeau

Michel Roger

Christophe Caillaud

Xavier Blanchon

Benoit Dacre-Wright

Nicolas Marty

Manuel Gutierrez-Castaneda

Vincent Savarit

Emmanuel Roux

Bruno Aymeric

Jérôme Sacle

Patrick Mazoyer

Benoît Dacre-Wright

Hervé Goutelard

Didier Poisson

François Hoofd

Dominique Vanypre

Adrien De Jaureguiberry

Automatic flight information determination device for automatically determining flight control information for an accompanying mobile machine accompanying a leader mobile machine, said device being adapted for collecting the location data of the leader mobile machine from among the actual location data derived from measurements relating to the current location of the leader mobile machine and the current trajectory data of the accompanying mobile machine, and of determining, on the basis of said location data collected, the information items for piloting the accompanying mobile machine as a function of a set of at least two values to be adhered to with respect to the location defined by the data collected, said values to be adhered to being representative of the values included among: a minimum vertical/flight level separation value, a minimum longitudinal/along track separation value, and a minimum lateral/between tracks separation value.

Electronical device, and method, for automatically determining piloting information of a mobile machine accompanying a leader mobile machine, associated computer program

A method is provided for adjusting a flight plan rejoining trajectory of an aircraft, the method being implemented in a flight management system of the aircraft. In a first step, the rejoining trajectory comprises a guidance setpoint holding point to be reached situated in the extension of a guidance setpoint, and set manually or automatically, the guidance setpoint no longer being necessarily maintained when this setpoint holding point is passed. This first step can be preceded by a step of rejoining a guidance setpoint or a step of searching for the intersection of the current guidance setpoint trajectory with a segment of the flight plan.

Rejoining trajectory adjustment method for aircraft

A method for automatically calculating a trajectory for an aircraft to re-join a reference route of the aircraft executed iteratively, in particular when the aircraft is no longer locked onto its reference route, each iteration comprising a step of detection of deviation from the active segment of the route; if the deviation from the active segment of the route is detected, the method comprises a step of selection of a route segment to be re-joined, a step of calculation of a re-joining trajectory between a starting point and the route segment to be re-joined, and a step of validation of the trajectory of the route segment to be re-joined. Where this trajectory is validated, the method comprises a step of assignment of the re-joining trajectory for the segment to the re-joining trajectory for the route. Otherwise, it comprises a step of verification of the existence of a next route segment fulfilling a selection condition. If a next route segment fulfils a selection condition, it comprises a step of selection of the next route segment as route segment to be re-joined, and a return to the step of calculation of a re-joining trajectory for the route segment to be re-joined. If no route segment fulfils the selection condition, it comprises a step of application of an exit procedure. A computer program for implementing this method is provided.

Method for automatically re-joining a route of an aircraft

A method, computer program and system are provided for calculating in an automatic manner a trajectory for rejoining a reference vertical profile of an aircraft. A reference vertical profile comprises a set of vertical constraints, and a method comprises a step of selecting an altitude constraint to be complied with, a step of calculating a vertical-profile prediction making it possible to comply with the constraint, a step of validating the vertical-profile prediction, if the vertical-profile prediction is validated, a step of applying the vertical-profile prediction, otherwise a step of determining the existence of a following altitude constraint to be complied with; if a following altitude constraint exists: a step of selecting a following altitude constraint to be complied with; a return to the step of detecting non-compliance with an altitude constraint; otherwise, a step of applying an exit procedure.

Method for automatically rejoining a reference vertical profile of an aircraft

A method assisting in navigation of aircraft following a flight plan subject to time constraints comprises: determining a minimum speed profile, a maximum speed profile, and minimum and maximum times of passage; determining, for each constraint of index i, a restricted interval and a required interval; the determination made by a first iterative computation, i being decremented from n&#x2212;1 to 1 and comprising: determining a required interval of index i enabling the aircraft to observe a restricted interval of index i+1 by flying at a speed profile between the minimum and maximum speed profiles, the restricted interval of index i+1 determined on the preceding iteration for an iteration of index between 1 and n&#x2212;2, or from the time constraint of index n for the iteration of index n&#x2212;1; and determining a restricted interval of index i from the intersection of the time constraint and the required interval of index i.

Navigation aid method for making multiple time constraints

A method and system, for flight management of an aircraft flying on a trajectory shifted with respect to a flight plan comprising a plurality of constrained waypoints, comprises a step of determining and displaying at least one point of the trajectory, termed decision point, beyond which the aircraft can no longer rejoin a constrained waypoint of the flight plan by determining a point of intersection between the trajectory and a rejoining trajectory steering towards the selected constrained waypoint, the rejoining trajectory complying with at least one predefined criterion.

Flight management method and system

A device and method for flight management of an aircraft along a flight plan comprises a plurality of waypoints comprising a computation of the temporal predictions determining the temporal situation of the aircraft for each waypoint of the flight plan, a temporal situation of the aircraft being defined by at least one set of information from among the group comprising the target time of transit at each waypoint the estimated minimum and maximum times of arrival at each waypoint, the estimated time of transit at the waypoint, and a formatting and display simultaneously presenting the temporal situations of the said plurality of waypoints.

Flight management device for an aircraft adapted to the handling of multiple time constraints and corresponding method

A method is provided for guaranteeing a temporal spacing between an aircraft and at least one reference moving object, said spacing needing to be guaranteed no later than at a point in the flight plan called the point of interception, with the aircraft following a current flight plan. The feasibility of guaranteeing the spacing at a date Tcour by regulating the speed of the aircraft while maintaining the current flight plan is verified in a first step. In a second step it is verified whether the date Tcour is contained within a feasibility range. In a third step the current flight plan is modified when the feasibility is not verified, a lateral trajectory between the current position Xcour of the aircraft and the point of interception being implemented in this case such that the spacing can be attained by regulating the speed.

Method, device and system for guaranteeing a temporal spacing between an aircraft and at least one reference moving object

The invention relates to a flight management system for aircraft which makes it possible to carry out tests of the results of the calculations of the main functions for formulating the flight plans and trajectories of the aircraft making it possible to anticipate errors in this formulation, to present them to the crew as a function of criticality criteria, to store them so as to be communicated and processed by the maintenance teams.

Functional monitor for flight management system

The present invention relates to a method of decoupling the mode of automatic following of the lateral profile and the mode of automatic following of the vertical profile of an automatic guidance system of an aircraft (A) flying on a reference trajectory (T). The mode of automatic following of the vertical profile is not disengaged immediately on disengaging the mode of automatic following of the lateral profile. After disengaging the mode of automatic following of the lateral profile, the mode of automatic following of the vertical profile is disengaged automatically only if at least one criterion of lateral separation between the current or short-term position of the aircraft and the lateral profile corresponding to the reference trajectory is satisfied, having regard to the position error.

Method of decoupling the mode of automatic following of the lateral profile and the mode of automatic following of the vertical profile

A device for displaying a flight plan of an aircraft is disclosed. The device includes a control unit with at least one first display area including a textual list of identifiers of points, a textual list of identifiers of segments, or both that are representative of a portion of the flight plan. A display of the textual lists are centered around a current central display point, the current central display point corresponding to a point of the flight plan or a segment of the flight plan. The device further includes means for displacing by jumps the flight plan portion displayed in the first display area by selecting a new point different from the current central display point, the selected new point becoming a new central display point after selection thereof.

Device for flight plan display with displacement based on jumps

A method of optimizing a flight plan of an aircraft used in a flight management system of an aircraft is disclosed. This method makes it possible to constrain the real cost index of the mission executed to the optimal cost index CIpredetermined by the aircraft operator, by acting on objectives ETAand EFOBof values of ETA and of EFOB to be achieved. Objectives are linked to this optimal cost index, in order to make the system return from a cost index CIto the optimal cost index CI, while taking account of various constraints imposed by the ATC or the CTFM. Both constraints minfluence the cost index and constraints which limit the field of possible solutions.

Method of optimizing a flight plan

The invention relates to a method for managing the flight of an aircraft flying along a trajectory and being subject to an absolute time constraint (on a downstream point) or relative time constraint (spacing with respect to a downstream aircraft), the said aircraft comprising a flight management system calculating a temporal discrepancy to the said time constraint, wherein the said method includes the following steps: the calculation of a distance on the basis of the temporal discrepancy, the modification of the trajectory: if the temporal discrepancy to the time constraint corresponds to an advance, the lengthening of the trajectory by the distance; if the temporal discrepancy to the time constraint corresponds to a delay, the shortening of the trajectory by the distance.

Method for managing the flight of an aircraft

The present invention relates to a method for changing the path followed by an aircraft, the aircraft initially following a predefined path on the basis of a sequence of waypoints, the method allowing a subsequent return of the aircraft to the predefined path in the same direction or in the reverse direction. The method allows a possible return of the aircraft to the predefined path in the same direction such that the waypoints of the predefined path are projected onto a new path according to a projection function ensuring that the order of the sequence of the projected image points complies with the order of the sequence of the original waypoints. The projection of a waypoint already reached by the aircraft also is considered as having been reached. The projections of the waypoints on the new path are considered reached by the aircraft progressively as the latter progresses along the new path. The aircraft eventually rejoins the predefined path at the first waypoint in the order of the sequence of points whose projection is not yet considered as reached on the new path.

Method for changing the path followed by an aircraft, the aircraft initially following a predefined path, the method allowing a possible return of the aircraft to the predefined path

The subject of the invention is an interactive navigation device comprising at least one navigation screen making it possible to display a graphical representation of at least one flight plan, a flight plan being composed of points and of segments. The device comprises means for displaying several flight plans simultaneously on the navigation screen at the same time as flight information text fields associated with the points of the said flight plans, the flight information fields being displayed in a manner contiguous with the points associated with them so as to be able to compare them conveniently. The device also comprises means for displaying on the navigation screen flight information fields associated with the segments of the flight plans, the said flight information fields being displayed in a manner contiguous with the segments associated with them.

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Cugnaux, France

Guy Deker