System and method for providing runway conditions to landing aircraft

The present invention relates to the collection and communication of information or data. More specifically, it relates to (but not limited to) automated systems (including but not limited to equipment) that provide real-time (or near real-time) information on runway conditions and aircraft stop performance encountered during landing to landing aircraft pilots.

Reference of provisional application This application is referred to herein in accordance with US Provisional Application No. 60 / 875,655, which was filed on December 19, 2006 and has the same name as above. The entire contents of the provisional patent application are incorporated herein by reference.

Sensors on board almost all commercial aircraft routinely measure certain performance parameters and configuration characteristics during takeoff, landing, and flight. Data about the measurements are typically recorded or captured and are subsequently reviewed or evaluated when needed. There is one recording mechanism, commonly referred to as a "flight data recorder" or "black box", which has a design purpose to avoid catastrophic failure of the installed aircraft. Devices or systems such as the Quick Access Recorder (QAR) may be additionally used.

Information captured by the recorder, such as flight data for commercial aircraft, is not necessarily transmitted to any device outside the aircraft. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,356 by Monroe intends to transmit certain captured information "to ground control bases for real-time or near-real-time surveillance." See Monroe's abstract, lines 7-8. According to Monroe's patent, ground tracking bases can query in-flight data during the flight of an aircraft. See column 3, lines 35-37 of the same document. For at least some other aircraft, the recorded information is sometimes transmitted for maintenance purposes or in connection with the flight operation quality assurance (FOQA) program.

Many collisions such as crashes have occurred due to a defect in the braking condition evaluation for the landing aircraft. For more than 25 years, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)'s recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address issues related to braking and runway friction. Has been done. Despite these many recommendations, it still fails to meet the real-time performance needs of landing aircraft.

NTSB's previous recommendations are onboard the use of INS / INU (Inertial Navigation System) data to measure deceleration and quantitative reporting on braking coefficients. It is recommended to use the equipment and analyze the correlation with the runway surface condition and use the derived data. Although some progress has been made in this area, the accuracy of the analytically derived friction values has been questioned by the errors involved in ground friction device measurements and the different characteristics of various aircraft types. This misunderstanding (or at least inaccuracies) raises concerns between aircraft manufacturers and airlines. This is because the large friction value calculated including the error (or inaccuracy) is expected to have an economic impact on driving the aircraft with the weight reduced more than necessary. Similarly, and perhaps even more importantly, industry seems to determine that this margin of error represents an unacceptable risk in terms of safety. Therefore, the adoption of such past NTSB recommendations is not imminent.

For this reason, current (or currently expected) systems do not provide objective information about the landing conditions encountered by a single aircraft to the pilots of subsequent landing aircraft. Instead, most airports continue to use mechanical ground friction test equipment to collect information. In addition, subjective reports from the landing pilot are communicated to the landing aircraft pilot via the air traffic controller or commander. This is probably the same type of report available to pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 on December 8, 2005. The flight left the end of the runway at Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois and deviated from the airfield boundary. The USA Today newspaper states that the pilot "thought the runway was in" good "condition based on reports from other pilots wirelessly contacted by air traffic controllers." However, subsequent analysis of the objective data showed that the runway was "slippery enough to make it difficult for a person to walk, even assuming the minimum traction on the jet's tires when the pilot tries to decelerate." It indicates that the condition was "bad" at best. " See "Too slippery Chicago runway in a crash" http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-01-slick-runway_x.htm.

USA Today points out: The accident raises national security implications. This is because the system for testing slippery runways has been shown to have potentially fatal flaws. Without accurate information about runway conditions, pilots could run into danger without warning.

(FAA) needs a better way to check slippery runways, but no reliable system has yet been found for all aircraft.

In fact, according to NTSB officials, it is unlikely that such a system will be developed for at least the next few years.

However, the FAA is leading its "next generation", and its doctrine includes advanced weather forecasts around problem areas or areas. Current efforts are primarily aimed at reducing flight delays caused by thunderstorm lines. Nonetheless, perhaps notable as part of this initiative are other bad weather scenarios, such as runway operational restrictions (especially in winter). For example, one of the future capabilities proposed for a given airport with high density flight (so-called "overcrowded operation") is the automatic delivery of runway braking motion reports. There is little doubt that this delivery will be used to determine with high accuracy when runway operations must be restricted.

<p><patcit num="1"><text>U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,356</text></patcit></p>

(A. System and method) The present invention provides a system and method for providing an operator such as a pilot with real-time (or near real-time) information on runway conditions and aircraft stop performance encountered during landing. In certain embodiments of the invention, information about the braking effectiveness of the aircraft immediately after landing is transmitted, along with (at least) the type of aircraft, to the pilot who will subsequently land on the same (or even closer) runway. .. Such information is obtained from any or all of the Flight Data Recorder, Quick Access Recorder, or FOQA capability and is processed prior to transmission to the pilot of the aircraft that is about to land. This can happen especially when different types of aircraft are involved (although not always required). This is because the effectiveness of braking one type of aircraft for a particular runway condition does not completely correlate with the effectiveness of another type of aircraft encountering similar conditions. However, automatically giving pilots objective information about the conditions they are likely to encounter has nothing to do with the value of the invention.

Since weather conditions can change significantly at short time intervals, making them available immediately after collection enhances the convenience of braking effectiveness information. Therefore, it is desirable to compile and process such information quickly. For this purpose, some embodiments of the present invention are intended to utilize information already acquired (or already available) for records by recorders such as aircraft flight data. In addition, some embodiments of the invention utilize computer programs or simulations to transform the information collected by one type of aircraft into information useful to pilots of another type of aircraft. Preferably, the information is made available as soon as possible. However, a delay of about 30 minutes (or longer) may be tolerated if the condition does not change rapidly.

Braking effectiveness information is the type of aircraft, weight, center of gravity, aircraft speed as a function of time, braking initiated in relation to a given runway position, when braking initiated in relation to aircraft touchdown. Includes, but is not limited to, information about the location of the reverse propulsion force or when and where a given flap or spoiler is deployed. Other information that may be useful to obtain is when and where to touch down, aircraft weight, standard landing gear configuration, braking applied speed, type of braking ABS setting, anti-skid operation (commanded by the pilot's braking pedal). Braking pressure, including pressure sent to braking after anti-skid control computer calculations), aircraft stop point, flap / slat settings, landing gear configuration, and normal during landing indicating the end of the landing run distance and the start of the TAXI phase. Excessive front wheel displacement Includes first front wheel chiller movement. In addition, potentially useful information includes reduction ratios collected from the INU reduction gauge, as well as the time and location of deceleration to assist in landing run distance calculations. For additional information that is potentially useful to obtain, any equipment on the aircraft is a minimum equipment list. Whether or not the placard is displayed as inoperable or deteriorated for each listing (MEL)), whether or not the anti-icing or anti-icing system is in use, and high-rise wind (speed and direction), wind shear detection, temperature, etc. There is weather-related information including (but not limited to). If it is not possible to measure or obtain on board an aircraft (by an aircraft anti-skid controller as a non-limiting example), some or all of the information will be measured by ground (or other) equipment. Such arbitrary measurements may be used to verify the information measured on board the aircraft.

If necessary, data processing may be performed in centralized equipment. Instead, the process may take place anywhere else. Distribution of processed data is ACARS (Aircrew Communication Addressing and Reporting System), ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information) It may be performed via a ground-to-cockpit communication channel such as Service)). In addition, the data is preferably available to those involved in the operation of airfields and airlines, air traffic controllers, and aircraft crew. Reproductions are stored for historical purposes or for analysis. Where appropriate, the data may be given the protection normally given to safety information. In addition, the data may be supplemented with ground information. For example, pollution depth, current weather conditions, precipitation intensity, last runway plow location, last runway plow location related to distance from the runway centerline, and runway salting / chemical treatment. At least some of this additional information will soon be available in the form of automated reporting using airport communications integrator technology.

It is the main object of the present invention to meet the FAA's need for "a better way to check slippery runways", but the invention is not limited to meeting this particular need. Rather, the present invention is applicable to inform operators of other vehicles including, but not limited to, ships, trains, buses, automobiles, and helicopters. Therefore, it is clear that the information given does not necessarily have to be (or exclusively) related to the braking effectiveness of the runway. Instead, in some cases, it may be related to docking results, rail conditions, road braking effectiveness, and the like. The marine use of onboard information may be supplemented by data from instruments such as meteorological buoys. Similarly, takeoff data for the departing aircraft may be given with transmission triggers for appropriate events such as 35-foot AGL, including but not limited to elapsed time or reduction from takeoff propulsion. This trigger, along with geographic coordinates, allows for the formulation of takeoff distances for aircraft.

Additional comparisons between recorded / transmitted data and nominal values may be made during the process. For example, for a particular aircraft type, the actual landing distance (either measured or calculated from the measured data) is compared to the nominal value for the dry runway setting. The comparative information will be made available to pilots of aircraft scheduled to land. Comparisons with other aircraft types may be given to the pilot as well.

The information transmitted to the pilots during landing according to the present invention is likely to provide more useful data to these pilots at important times during flight, together with the aircraft flight and performance manual. The information and data are intended to be more objective than the current information verbally transmitted from pilot to pilot via a human air traffic controller. They are also intended to be available in real time (or near real time) for added convenience.

(B. Data collection equipment) Current runway friction measurement methods are based on the friction coefficient measured by a ground reduction meter. There is likely to be a given correlation between these measured friction coefficients and the aircraft braking coefficient, but they do not adequately correlate with aircraft performance data from actual manufacturer flight tests. .. For this reason, runway friction coefficients measured using ground equipment are available to pilots in flight operations manuals (FOM), quick reference handbooks (QRH), aircraft / airplane flight manuals (AFM), or takeoff. And it is not typically used when referring to an onboard performance computer (OPC) that performs landing performance calculations.

Instead of using ground measuring equipment, it is intended to substitute an aircraft in the embodiments of the present invention. Particularly preferred for obtaining measurements are unmanned aerospace vehicles (UAVs). It will board the airport's traffic pattern (multiple times as needed) and land to obtain both aviation weather data and runway condition-related data. Since at least the UAV is an aircraft (ie, receives or generates aerodynamic forces such as lift and resistance), the runway friction information that the UAV obtains more accurately provides the data required by the pilot of the aircraft to land. It is likely to represent. Specifically, if necessary, the UAV provides basic data that will be converted to most or all of the other (fixed-wing) aircraft types. For example, it provides information on the percentage increase relative to the dry landing distance described in FOM, QRH, AFM, or OPC.

In addition, if the airport is snowy, UAVs can be used to determine the effectiveness of snow removal (as is) without closing the airport runway. Previous NTSB safety recommendations require values that determine when the runway needs to be closed. The data obtained by using the UAV gives its value and basic information for how to determine it.

If desired, the airport may own one or more UAVs available to assess runway conditions at any time. Alternatively, one UAV may be provided to two or more airports, flying between multiple airports and landing and taking off at each. As an alternative, multiple UAV squadrons may be on standby at various locations, flying to traffic patterns and landing as needed.

The UAV should have anti-skid braking as well as sufficient computing power to measure and process the required data. In addition, UAVs may be modified to closely resemble certain types of aircraft, to the extent possible. For example, some UAVs may be modified to incorporate the type of landing gear braking assembly used by Boeing, or include the type of assembly used by Airbus (or Bombardier, Embraer, Saab, Fokker, etc.). There may be UAVs that are modified.

In some embodiments of the invention, aerial data acquisition devices such as UAVs operate weather, runway, and performance data in place over a (protected) shared network. Send to the company. If the data is not for a particular aircraft type, various airlines will perform conversions for that particular aircraft type. Instead, the data may be transmitted around a specific site or to a manufacturer, FAA, etc. To the extent necessary or desired, security guarantees may be included to protect information deemed exclusive to one user from access by at least certain other users.

Therefore, a selective and non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for improving or increasing information on runway conditions.

Another selective and non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for presenting automated objective information to a pilot, substituting the subjective information currently transmitted orally.

Also, a selective and non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of real-time (or near real-time) information on runway conditions and aircraft stop performance encountered during landing.

A more selective and non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for acquiring runway-related data by using the aircraft as a measuring instrument.

Furthermore, a selective and non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method of using the UAV to obtain runway-related data.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following text and drawings of the present application.

<figref num="1">It is a flowchart of a predetermined selective operation and device used or useful in connection with various embodiments of the present invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is the schematic which shows various aspects of this invention.</figref>

Figure 1 shows the selective aspects of system 10. The actions enabled by System 10 typically include the collection (block 14), processing (block 18), and transmission (block 22) of data directly or indirectly related to, for example, runway conditions and aircraft braking. Is included. As mentioned in the previous section of the present application, the operations identified in FIG. 1 are performed using aerial equipment and / or ground equipment.

Specifically, data collection (14) includes onboard equipment for manned aircraft (14A) that recently landed or departed at the airport, onboard equipment for unmanned aerial vehicles such as the UAV (14B), and conventional ground runway friction. It is done using any or all of the ground equipment (14C), including but not limited to testers. However, it is preferred that such conventional friction testers are not used. This is due to both the need for runway closure and the fact that the results are unlikely to correlate well with the results of the aircraft. Instead or in addition, the information gives the airfield condition, such as the depth of snow or muddy snow, whether or not the deicing equipment is in use, when there was a runway plow last time It may be obtained from the "Snow Warning to Airmen (SNOTAM / SNOWTAM)" report.

In collecting data, data processing (18) may be performed on a manned aircraft (18A), on an unmanned aerial vehicle (18B), or using ground computing equipment (18C). A combination of these processing device options can be used as well. Centralized data processing is advantageous at a given airport or in a given situation, while decentralized processing is advantageous at other times or places.

Data transmission (22) to any required location is preferably automated. For example, pilots of aircraft to land may receive data directly from other aerial equipment (22A) or via ground-to-air transmission (22D). Alternatively, for example, a pilot of an aircraft scheduled to take off may receive data from a ground transmitter (22B) or an aerial transmitter (22C).

Similarly, FIG. 2 details selected selective aspects of system 10. Information such as data may be transmitted from or to the aircraft using one or both of the ground (26A) and air (26B) transceivers or repeaters. Aircraft include recently landed aircraft (30A), recently taken off aircraft (30B), in-flight aircraft (30C), and aircraft preparing to land (30D). Any of the aircraft 30A-D may be manned or unmanned, private or commercial, public or private, etc. The unprocessed or partially processed data is compared with or processed in relation to the data given by the airframe manufacturer or the like (34). In some embodiments of System 10, the processed data is the airline, airport authorities, FAA, air traffic. It may be sent to the pilot to any or all of control (ATC)) (38) and via ACARS, SATCOM, DATALINK, etc. (42). As a result, the system provides an autopilot report (indicated by "automatic PIREP" in Figure 2). Automatic pilot reports provide pilots with a high quality assessment of the conditions expected, especially when landing at a particular location, especially when combined with (but not always) aircraft flight and performance manuals. Includes objective and data-based information.

The present invention is flexible with respect to equipment and operation, including the system and method. Therefore, the above is given for the purpose of illustrating, explaining, and describing the embodiments of the present invention. Modifications and adaptations to these examples are apparent to those skilled in the art and can be made without departing from the scope and gist of the present invention. However, the present invention advantageously provides real-time or near-real-time objective data on runway conditions and aircraft stop performance that pilots of the planned landing aircraft are likely to encounter during landing. Rado's US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0243857 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.