Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1997-08-29
2001-01-30
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S014000, C701S010000, C340S500000, C244S075100, C244S194000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181987
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of assistance in the piloting of an aerodyne designed more particularly to facilitate the pilot's tasks, especially with regard to the choice of a diversion flight plan.
It can be applied especially but not exclusively to civil and commercial aviation, where the need to cope with major increases in air traffic and at the same time to improve safety levels entails numerous constraints for the pilot who has to take a large volume of information into account before making a decision, for example to work out and choose a new flight plan that becomes essential following an unexpected event.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Piloting assistance methods have already been proposed. These methods facilitate access to the various types of information needed to pilot an aerodyne in commercial use. However, these various methods have not been conceived with a view to assistance with decision-making.
Systems of assistance with decision-making have also been proposed. These systems can be used to devise one or more solutions to a problem by computing a large number of solutions and making a selection on the basis of one or more particular criteria that are predetermined. However, the solution identified by the system as being the best one does not necessarily correspond to the best possible choice and, in the context of civil aviation, the pilot must himself be capable of making a fully knowledgeable selection of the solution that will be finally adopted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is aimed at removing these drawbacks and at improving the ergonomic quality of the man/machine interface. To this end, it proposes a method of assistance with the piloting of an aerodyne implemented by a system comprising a processor, at least one man/machine communications terminal including a display screen and a control and data entry unit, and memories in which there are stored, in particular, all the information necessary for the carrying out of a flight, the system being connected to the other electronic equipment on board the aerodyne.
In order to define a new flight plan to meet a new situation caused by a disturbing event, the method of the invention comprises the following steps:
the monitoring of the context in which the aerodyne is located and the interpretation of the event to determine the possible corrective actions to be undertaken, the analysis of the possibilities of reconfiguring the flight plan that
correspond to the corrective actions defined at the preceding stage, according to a set of criteria that are predetermined and capable of being is modified by the pilot,
the devising of the flight plan solutions that meet the predetermined criteria, and
the presenting, to the pilot, of these flight plan solutions in association with the significant parameters that have served as the grounds for their devising.
According to the invention, the corrective actions, if any, are determined as a function of the event and in the light of the context in which the aerodyne is located.
Through these arrangements, the pilot can determine the reason why a flight plan has been selected by the system as a solution to the specific difficulty resulting from the occurrence of the event. He can thus make a fully knowledgeable choice of the flight plan that appears to him to be most appropriate to the situation encountered.
More specifically, the method of the invention comprises the performance of the following steps:
the reception by the processor of an item of information announcing the disturbing event,
the defining by the processor of a corrective action,
the displaying, on the display screen, of the corrective action to be undertaken,
the computation, by the processor, of the flight plan solutions that correspond to the corrective action and meet a set of criteria that are predetermined and capable of being modified by the pilot, the computation being performed on the basis of a navigation data base contained in the memories and of the data given by the on-board equipment,
the display, on the display screen, of a navigation map,
the display, on the navigation map, of the flight plan solutions in association with the criteria justifying their selection as solutions,
the display, on request, of detailed information on a flight plan indicated by the pilot from among the flight plan solutions displayed on the navigation map of the display screen.
The various corrective actions to be taken following the occurrence of the disturbing event consist of a diversion (the modification of the destination airport), a modification of the lateral flight plan, or a modification of the vertical flight plan. The disturbing event may correspond to the detection of a dangerous weather phenomenon or a serious malfunctioning of the aerodyne, or to a problem at the destination airport, in the air traffic control system, or with regard to the passengers of the aerodyne.
In the case of a multiplicity of disturbing events, the corrective actions are determined and processed by order of priority.
Advantageously, the method further includes showing the pilot the limit point or boundary point of the active flight plan to activate the new flight plan, as well the time and distance up to this point.
According to one characteristic of the invention, the method comprises the display of the reasons for which a flight plan previously indicated by the pilot has been selected as a solution and includes the display of the reasons for which a previously indicated airport has been selected or not selected as a solution.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the method comprises the detailed presentation, at a second level, of all the data taken into account by the system for the examination of each solution.
According to another characteristic of the invention, each flight plan solution of a diversion is computed by using the segments of air routes and by taking account of the approach and arrival procedures at the corresponding diversion airport.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3582949 (1971-06-01), Forst
patent: 5153836 (1992-10-01), Fraughton et al.
patent: 5398186 (1995-03-01), Nakhla
patent: 2 677 149 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 2 694 106 (1994-01-01), None
patent: 2 694 104 (1994-01-01), None
Bomans Muriel
Deker Guy
Beaulieu Yonel
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Sextant Avionique
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