Systems, methods and apparatus to profile atmospheric turbulence. The apparatus includes a telescope having a telescope optical axis and a laser to generate a plurality of pulses at a pulse repetition rate. A laser beam mechanism, coupled to the laser, has a laser optical axis substantially coincident with the telescope optical axis, such that the plurality of pulses forms a collimated laser beam propagating along the telescope optical axis. The apparatus also includes at least one shutter coupled to the telescope and one or more wavefront sensors, coupled to the shutter, which acts as a range gate for the wavefront sensor. A controller is coupled to the laser and the shutter to coordinate operation of the shutter with a pulse of the plurality of pulses.

A multiple functional instrument is provided. The instrument includes an optical autocovariance function interferometer that can feature multiple fields of view to detect winds in the atmosphere. The instrument can include an infrared camera to detect atmospheric temperatures and the presence of clouds, and a detector assembly that detects the polarization of light returned to the interferometer. Data collected by the instrument can be provided to a deep and reinforcement learning algorithm for real-time prediction of clear air turbulence and other wind-based aviation safety phenomena. Moreover, predicted and actual conditions can be correlated and used to train a deep learning algorithm to enable more accurate predictions. The instrument can be carried by an aircraft or other platform and operated to detect clear air turbulence or other atmospheric phenomena, and to provide instructions regarding flight parameters including wind-aided navigation in order to minimize the effect of predicted turbulence.

A device, system and method is provided for obtaining and processing turbulence data via communication devices located on-board airplanes. Turbulence data obtained by a plurality of communication devices may be received during flights on-board respective ones of a plurality of airplanes. Turbulence map data may be generated by super-positioning the turbulence data received from the plurality of communication devices onto a single tempo-spatial frame of reference. The turbulence map data may be distributed to one or more of the communication devices. A device, system and method is also provided for generating turbulence map data that may reduce or eliminate “false positive” turbulence events. A device, system and method is also provided for communicating with on-board communication devices operating in a “flight crew mode” or a “passenger mode.”

A significant weather advisory system for an aircraft is disclosed. The system is configured to identify, from strategic weather data, current significant weather events from weather impacted areas projected to be intersected by a geographical corridor around a projected flight path and projected to occur during determined time intervals during which the airborne vehicle is expected to pass through the weather impacted areas; compare the current significant weather events to previously identified significant weather events and detect significant changes between the current significant weather events and the previously identified significant weather events; and generate a notification for display to the flight crew via an onboard notification system that identifies the detected significant change when a significant change is detected.

An apparatus for guiding an aircraft includes: an air velocity sensor disposed on the aircraft and configured to sense a speed and direction of a wind remote to the aircraft to provide remote wind speed and direction data; a flight control actuator coupled to a flight control device; and a flight controller communicably coupled to the air velocity sensor, the flight controller having an input section that receives the remote wind speed and direction data from the air velocity sensor, a processor configured to determine a magnitude and direction of the wind with respect to a planned flight route and to predict an influence acting on the aircraft due to the magnitude and direction of the wind with respect to the planned flight route, and an output section communicably coupled to the flight control actuator to provide a control signal that results in the aircraft counteracting the predicted influence.

Improved mechanisms for collecting information from a diverse suite of sensors and systems, calculating the current precipitation, atmospheric water vapor, atmospheric liquid water content, or precipitable water and other atmospheric-based phenomena, for example presence and intensity of fog, based upon these sensor readings, predicting future precipitation and atmospheric-based phenomena, and estimating effects of the atmospheric-based phenomena on visibility, for example by calculating runway visible range (RVR) estimates and forecasts based on the atmospheric-based phenomena.

Adaptive wind estimation, trajectory generation, and flight control for aerial systems using motion data is provided. The adaptive wind estimation approach may be implemented using onboard computing power, may rapidly converge to true values, may be computationally inexpensive, and may not require any specific hardware or specific vehicle maneuvers for the convergence. There may be no prior knowledge of the wind field, using the motion of the aircraft itself rather than wind sensors. The algorithm may include three blocks. An identification/estimation block may identify aerodynamic drag coefficients in still-air flight and estimate the wind components in moving and variable air flight. A navigation block may generate feasible trajectories, taking into account the estimated wind field. A control block may generate motor/engine thrust commands necessary to track the generated trajectories while compensating for the wind disturbance.

Systems, aircraft, and non-transitory media are provided. An avionics system for an aircraft includes a storage device and one or more data processors. The storage device stores instructions for monitoring an actual performance of the aircraft. The one or more data processors are configured to execute the instructions to: generate a lateral component and a longitudinal component of a measured moving air mass relative to the aircraft; generate a plurality of wind independent positions of the aircraft along a potential aircraft trajectory based on a prediction model; and generate a plurality of wind corrected positions of the aircraft based on the plurality of wind independent positions, on the lateral component, and on the longitudinal component.

Improved mechanisms for collecting information from a diverse suite of sensors and systems, calculating the current precipitation, atmospheric water vapor, atmospheric liquid water content, or precipitable water and other atmospheric-based phenomena, for example presence and intensity of fog, based upon these sensor readings, predicting future precipitation and atmospheric-based phenomena, and estimating effects of the atmospheric-based phenomena on visibility, for example by calculating runway visible range (RVR) estimates and forecasts based on the atmospheric-based phenomena.

An apparatus for guiding an aircraft includes: an air velocity sensor disposed on the aircraft and configured to sense a speed and direction of a wind remote to the aircraft to provide remote wind speed and direction data; a flight control actuator coupled to a flight control device; and a flight controller communicably coupled to the air velocity sensor, the flight controller having an input section that receives the remote wind speed and direction data from the air velocity sensor, a processor configured to determine a magnitude and direction of the wind with respect to a planned flight route and to predict an influence acting on the aircraft due to the magnitude and direction of the wind with respect to the planned flight route, and an output section communicably coupled to the flight control actuator to provide a control signal that results in the aircraft counteracting the predicted influence.