G05D1/0083

Route planning and movement of an aircraft on the ground based on a navigation model trained to increase aircraft operational efficiency
11328615 · 2022-05-10 · ·

Route planning and movement of an aircraft on the ground based on a navigation model trained to improve aircraft operational efficiency is provided herein. A system comprises a memory that stores executable components and a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components that comprise an assessment component, a sensor component, and a route planning component. The assessment component accesses runway data, taxiway data, and gate configuration data associated with an airport. The sensor component collects, from a plurality of sensors, sensor data related to performance data of an aircraft and respective conditions of the runway, the taxiway, and the gate configuration data. The route planning component employs a navigation model that is trained to analyze the sensor data, the runway data, the taxiway data, and the gate configuration data, and generate a taxiing protocol to navigate the aircraft to improve aircraft operational efficiency.

TAKEOFF PERFORMANCE ALERT

An aircraft includes at least one line replaceable unit (LRU) configured to determine, based on initial data collected prior to a takeoff roll of the aircraft, a takeoff rotation speed of the aircraft and a rotation time associated with the takeoff rotation speed. The LRU is configured to determine, during the takeoff roll and prior to the rotation time, a predicted speed of the aircraft at the rotation time. The predicted speed is at least partially based on data collected during the takeoff roll. The LRU is also configured to determine whether an alert condition is satisfied at least partially based on whether a disparity between the takeoff rotation speed and the predicted speed exceeds a rotation speed disparity threshold and to generate a takeoff performance alert in response to the alert condition being satisfied.

Method and device for assisting the driving of an aircraft moving on the ground
11816863 · 2023-11-14 · ·

A method and device for assisting the driving of an aircraft (AC) moving on the ground, on a taxiing circuit (CP) including a taxi line (TL) to be followed by the aircraft (AC). The taxi line (TL) has different portions (PR) forming between them intersections (IP). The device is configured to use a digital modeling of the taxi line (TL), called digital trajectory (TR), including nodes corresponding to the intersections (IP). In addition, the device includes a detection unit (4) configured to detect at least one of the intersections (IP), as well as an increment unit (6) configured to increment a counter associated with the digital trajectory (TR), after detection of the intersection (IP), the counter being designed to count a series of the nodes.

DISPATCH-BASED CHARGING FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE FLEET

An electric vehicle (EV) is charged according to a selected charging rate. An available dispatch time is determined based on a current charge level of a battery of the EV, a first charging rate, and a target charge level. An anticipated dispatch time is determined based on predicted demand for a fleet of EVs that includes the EV. If the available dispatch time is later than the anticipated dispatch time, the first charging rate is selected; if the available dispatch time is earlier than the anticipated dispatch time, a second charging rate that is lower than the first charging rate is selected. The second charging rate may be a rate that charges the battery of the EV to at least the target charge level in time for the anticipated dispatch time.

CONTROLLING A VEHICLE BASED ON DETECTED MOVEMENT OF AN OBJECT

A method of controlling a vehicle includes detecting, by an optical sensor, a movement of at least one object in a field of view of the optical sensor. The method further includes identifying, by a processor circuit, a pattern based on the movement of the at least one object. The method further includes determining, by the processor circuit based on the pattern, a vehicle command to be performed by the vehicle.

Method for Maneuvering an Electric Taxi Drive System Driven Aircraft into an Airport Ramp Parking Location
20220097831 · 2022-03-31 · ·

The present invention provides a method for maneuvering and aligning aircraft equipped and driven during ramp ground travel with landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems that have deviated from taxi line travel paths and for maneuvering the electric taxi drive system-driven aircraft to park accurately to align with locations of parking stops when the aircraft nose landing gear wheels stop beyond or short of a parking stop. The aircraft pilot can, without waiting for a tug or starting aircraft engines, precisely maneuver the aircraft with the electric taxi drive systems while viewing the taxi line and parking stop location in real time with an optional camera and sensor system while maneuvering the aircraft in forward or reverse and lateral directions to align the aircraft nose wheels with the taxi line path and to accurately position the nose landing gear wheels at the parking stop.

Systems, methods, and apparatus to control aircraft roll operations
11287836 · 2022-03-29 · ·

Systems, methods, and apparatus to control aircraft roll operations are disclosed herein. An example system includes a control wheel position determiner to determine a control wheel position based on an input from a control wheel of the aircraft, a control wheel force determiner to determine a first control wheel force based on a sensor measurement, and a spoiler controller to map the control wheel position to a second control wheel force, the second control wheel force based on nominal characteristics of the aircraft, determine a first difference between the first control wheel force and the second control wheel force, and in response to determining that the first difference does not satisfy a threshold, move a flight control surface based on a third control wheel force, the third control wheel force based on a second difference between the first difference and the threshold.

DIFFERENTIAL DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING (DDP) BASED PLANNING ARCHITECTURE FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VEHICLES

In one embodiment, method performed by an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) that determines, within a driving space, a plurality of routes from a current location of the ADV to a desired location. The method determines, for each route of the plurality of routes, an objective function to control the ADV autonomously along the route and, for each of the objective functions, performs Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP) optimization in view of a set of constraints to produce a path trajectory. The method determines whether at least one of the path trajectories satisfies each constraint and, in response to a path trajectory satisfying each of the constraints, selects the path trajectory for navigating the ADV from the current location to the desired location.

Dynamic determination method for determining the position of a stopping point of an aircraft on a landing strip and related system
11069248 · 2021-07-20 · ·

A dynamic determination method for determining the position of a stopping point of an aircraft on a landing strip and related system includes determining a first table of average time from touchdown of the aircraft as a function of the ground speed, based on an average deceleration profile of the aircraft; determining a first deceleration profile adapted to the current conditions, based on an engine thrust computed for each ground speed from the average time determined in the first table; determining a second table of time adapted to the current conditions based on the first deceleration profile; determining a second deceleration profile adapted to the current conditions, based on an engine thrust computed for each ground speed from the time determined in the second table; and computing the position of the stopping point from the second adapted deceleration profile.

Low/No visibility takeoff system

A no/low visibility automatic takeoff system for an aircraft obtains a runway reference centerline and aircraft pointing direction (via the aircraft's sensors) and automatically controls the aircraft pointing direction to track the runway reference centerline. An initial vector is obtained based on the initial position of the aircraft the first piloted initiation of the takeoff roll. After the system obtains a centerline, it automatically tracks the centerline and corrects aircraft trajectory so the aircraft heading closely matches the runway centerline as the aircraft proceeds down the runway.