| CPC G08G 5/34 (2025.01) [B64D 43/00 (2013.01); B64D 45/00 (2013.01); G08G 5/80 (2025.01)] | 13 Claims |
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1. A system for navigating an aircraft, comprising:
a flight planning system comprising a computer running a suitable software, configured to prepare a set of at least three different trajectories (t1-t5) for a flight from a departure point (A) to a destination point (B),
a flight execution supervision system in communication with the flight planning system and comprising an official aviation authority or any other local authority responsible for approving intended flight trajectories or handling flight schedules, configured to receive and verify each trajectory of the set of trajectories,
an onboard flight management system comprising a computer executing a plurality of software modules to be installed at an aircraft and having a storage unit for storing the set of at least three different trajectories (t1-t5), wherein the flight management system is configured to select one of the trajectories from the set of trajectories as an active trajectory for a current flight of the aircraft, and wherein the set of at least three different trajectories (t1-t5) for the flight are prepared, verified, and stored in the storage unit of the onboard flight management system pre-flight,
wherein one of the flight management system software modules includes a replanning unit configured to change, during the current flight, the active trajectory (t3) by selecting a second trajectory (t2) from the set of trajectories as the active trajectory for the current flight, such as to continue the current flight based on the second trajectory (t2),
wherein at a time of changing navigation of the aircraft to the second trajectory the current position of the aircraft is on both the first trajectory and the second trajectory,
wherein selecting a second trajectory comprises:
determining a plurality of trajectory candidates from among the set of trajectories such that the current position of the aircraft is on each of the trajectory candidates, wherein each trajectory candidate of the plurality of trajectory candidates has been verified before the flight,
determining a ranking for each trajectory candidate based on trajectory evaluation data associated to each of the trajectory candidates,
sequentially submitting, in an order according to their ranking, trajectory candidates to the onboard flight management system of the aircraft for validation processing, until a validated trajectory candidate is determined by the validation processing, and
selecting the validated trajectory candidate as the second trajectory and switching navigation of the aircraft such as to continue the flight based on the second trajectory.
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