The Boeing Company

Miguel Vilaplana

Javier Lopez Leones

David Scarlatti

Francisco A Navarro

Isabel Del Pozo De Poza

Ernesto Valls Hernandez

Marco La Civita

Francisco Garcia De Blanes

Enrique Casado

Luis P D'Alto

Nicolas Pena Ortiz

Enrique Juan Magana Casado

Juan Besada

Andrés Muñoz Hernández

Alfonso Valenzuela

Anthony Weatherington

Rafael Vazquez

Damian Rivas

Ernesto Hernandez Valls

Alicia Grech

Piero Chessa

Carlos Querejeta Massaveu

David Esteban

Francisco Navarro

A system and a computer-implemented method for evaluating uncertainty of a predicted trajectory infrastructure is disclosed The method comprises collecting a plurality of data sets from a predicted trajectory: comprising providing an aircraft intent description based on the predicted trajectory; selecting both a point in time and one or more variables among the collected plurality of data sets as sources of uncertainty; representing each selected variable at the selected point in time as a uni-variable polynomial expansion; representing each non-selected variable by a single point; and combining selected and non-selected variables into a multi-variable polynomial chaos expansion representing a stochastic prediction of the aircraft's trajectory at the selected point in time and a measurement of a sensitivity of the prediction to each of the selected one or more sources of uncertainty.

Computer-implemented method and system for evaluating uncertainty in trajectory prediction

A method may include receiving flight plan data representing a set of current flight plans and receiving surveillance data representing a set of current aircraft statuses. The method may further include generating merged data representing a set of flight portions that remain to be flown. The method may also include receiving operational context data representing airspace configurations, airport configurations, or a combination thereof, and receiving weather data. The method may include generating predicted flight traffic data by performing a simulation of flights over a duration of time, the simulation based at least partially on the merged data, the operational context data, and the weather data. The method may further include generating a user output based at least partially on the predicted flight traffic data.

System and method to forecast flight delay based on real-time data

A method of detecting conflicts between aircraft passing through managed airspace, and resolving the detected conflicts strategically. The method may include obtaining intended trajectories of aircraft through the airspace, detecting conflicts in the intended trajectories, forming a set of the conflicted aircraft, calculating one or more revised trajectories for the conflicted aircraft such that the conflicts are resolved, and advising the conflicted aircraft subject to revised trajectories of the revised trajectories.

Conflict detection and resolution using predicted aircraft trajectories

The present disclosure relates to the secure transmission of an aircraft trajectory that is to be flown or that has been flown. A ground-referenced description of the trajectory of the aircraft expressed in ground-referenced parameters is converted, using a description of an imaginary atmospheric model describing imaginary atmospheric conditions along the trajectory, into an air-referenced description of the aircraft trajectory expressed in air-referenced parameters. For decryption, knowledge of the imaginary atmospheric conditions allows the air-referenced description of the aircraft trajectory to be converted back into the ground-referenced description of the aircraft trajectory. Thus, the ground-referenced trajectory may be though of as the plain text, the imaginary atmospheric model as the cipher key and the air-referenced trajectory as the cipher text.

Secure transmission of an aircraft trajectory

The method of the present invention comprises acquiring input data of both aircraft performance characteristics and atmospheric data, and defining trajectory parameters to which the aircraft trajectory must be subjected, the method further comprising defining aircraft trajectory parameters; acquiring a plurality of atmospheric forecast ensembles; calculating a predicted trajectory from each atmospheric forecast of an atmospheric forecast ensemble, said predicted trajectory having associated information regarding a certain figure of merit of the aircraft trajectory, wherein an ensemble of predicted trajectories is obtained from each atmospheric forecast ensemble, each predicted trajectory of the ensemble of predicted trajectories having an associated probability derived from the probability of each atmospheric forecast within an atmospheric forecast ensemble; the system of the present disclosure comprising all the necessary equipment to carry out the method of the present disclosure.

System and method for defining and predicting aircraft trajectories

The present disclosure relates to a method of assessing the feasibility of a desired four-dimensional trajectory to be flown by an aircraft. The method comprises converting a description of the desired trajectory into a kinematic description of aircraft intent that corresponds to the desired trajectory, and providing a trajectory computation engine with the kinematic description of aircraft intent, aircraft performance data that describes the performance of the aircraft and atmospheric data that describes the atmospheric conditions along the desired trajectory, and using the trajectory computation engine to attempt to calculate the desired trajectory from the kinematic description of aircraft intent, the aircraft performance data and the atmospheric data, and reporting whether or not the desired trajectory was calculated.

Assessing feasibility of an aircraft trajectory

The present invention provides a system and method of producing a description of the flight intent of an aircraft expressed using a formal language. The description may be used to generate a predicted aircraft trajectory, for example by air traffic management. Rules are used in association with information provided to express the flight intent of the aircraft in a formal language. The flight intent describes a flight in terms of flight segments, and provides information of the path to be flown and how it is to be flown. The flight intent does not necessarily define unambiguously the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and the motion of the aircraft during the flight. The flight intent is used alongside other information to generate the aircraft intent that does describe unambiguously the aircraft's trajectory.

Providing data for predicting aircraft trajectory

A method of detecting conflicts between aircraft passing through managed airspace, and to resolving the detected conflicts strategically. The method may include obtaining intended trajectories of aircraft through the airspace and time constraints corresponding to time of arrival at specified locations, detecting conflicts in the intended trajectories, forming a set of the conflicted aircraft, calculating one or more revised trajectories for the conflicted aircraft such that the conflicts are resolved and the time constraints met, and advising the conflicted aircraft subject to revised trajectories of the revised trajectories.

A method of detecting conflicts between aircraft passing through managed airspace, and to resolving the detected conflicts strategically. Air traffic control apparatus arranged to manage airspace through which aircraft are flying is provided that comprises processing means configured to receive aircraft intent data describing an aircraft's intended flight path, to launch a conflict detection procedure in which it computes a user-preferred trajectory for each of the aircraft based on the aircraft intent and determines whether any conflicts will arise, to launch a conflict resolution procedure in which it calculates revisions of the aircraft intent of the conflicted aircraft to remove the conflicts, and to transmit to the aircraft the revised aircraft intent data.

The present disclosure provides a computer-implemented method of generating a description of aircraft intent expressed in a formal language that provides an unambiguous description of an aircraft's intended motion and configuration during a period of flight. A flight intent description is parsed to provide instances of flight intent that span a flight segment, the flight segments together spanning the period of flight. The parsed flight intent is converted into parametric aircraft intent by generating an associated flight segment description for each flight segment that comprises instances of flight intent to close all associated degrees of freedom of motion and of configuration of the aircraft. At least some flight segment descriptions contain a parameter range, and the method further comprises optimizing the parametric aircraft intent by determining an optimal value for the parameter of each parameter range.

Growing community of inventors

Madrid, Spain

Miguel Vilaplana