Abstract:
A system and method are disclosed that permits a user to interactively and graphically design a company route to be traveled by a vehicle such as an airplane. Alternatively or additionally, a system and method are disclosed that permits a user to interactively and graphically conduct a virtual travel through, such a virtual fly through, a company route to be traveled by a vehicle such as an airplane.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The technical field of the system disclosed herein relates to navigation, particularly navigation of aircraft, although the system disclosed herein could relate to the navigation of any craft. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    A company route is defined by a list of records that include airports, procedures, airways, and/or waypoints satisfying regulatory authorities regarding the flight of an aircraft. Essentially, a company route is a description of the flight path to be followed by an aircraft as it flies between origin and destination airports. This flight path is designed specifically to fit the requirements of airline operators who operate between origin and destination points. 
         [0003]    A company route is typically designed on the ground by navigation personnel, who receive the requirements from the airline operators. The navigation personnel use a list of waypoints between origin and destination airports along the flight path as inputs so as to produce the company route. The design of a company route is a mostly manual process and it is certainly time-consuming. As a result, the process is error prone. Also, the design process is textually oriented, which makes it difficult for the navigation personnel to visualize the actual company route, which is made even more difficult because, during this design process, the designer has no idea about the terrain and obstacles which may present along the designed company route. 
         [0004]    As can be seen, the step by step process that is necessary to create a company route is complex. The source airport, the departure, runway transitions, common transitions, en-route transitions, waypoint fixes, airways, arrival transitions, approach transitions, and the actual approach all/few need to be selected and specified based on defined criteria and stringed together in a way that forms the record of the company route. At each selection point, the navigation personnel use multiple sources (charts, Aeronautical Information Packages (AIPs), etc.) to select the desired points of interest. Because so many sources are needed to provide the information required for designing a company route, there is a distinct possibility of making mistakes, and the designer will not have any leverage to view the sources together. Also, during this whole process, the designer has no idea about the terrain and obstacles which may be present along the designed route. Moreover, text based route design provides little means to select an optimal path. 
         [0005]    Therefore, there is a need for an interactive and graphical navigation system that interactively provides navigation personnel with a graphical view of a company route as it is being designed, along with additional information such as information about terrain, obstacles, airports, airways, etc. This system can be used by navigation personnel on the ground and can be arranged to empower them to be more aware of the choices of the route at a particular fix (a real time view of the route on a world map backdrop if a choice is selected), to compare different choices so that they can make better decisions quicker, to be aware of terrain and obstacle information, and to verify the company route by viewing a virtual fly through of the route. 
         [0006]    The relevant choices (e.g., fixes, airways, procedures, etc.) relative to a particular fix can be shown graphically, and the user can make selections based on the graphics so as to construct the company route. This company route can then be verified by virtually flying through the coded route with underlaid terrain and obstacles. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    Features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  illustrates a conventional manual process of creating and verifying company routes by navigation personnel; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  illustrates a computer system that overcomes one or more of the problems associated with the current manual process of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a program that can be executed by the computer system of  FIG. 2  so as to build a company route; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a program that can be executed by the computer system of  FIG. 2  so as to verify a company route; and, 
           [0012]      FIGS. 5-9  illustrate examples of screen displays rendered on the monitor of the computer system of  FIG. 2  during execution of the programs of  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    As discussed above, a company route is a sequence of flight segments, which define a path from an origin to a destination. A company route origin is a fix (in this case typically an airport) that represents the starting point of the company route. A company route destination is a fix (in this case also typically an airport) that represents the final or destination point of the company route. Other fixes which may be part of a company route are navaids, ndbs and waypoints. A navaid is any visual or electronic device airborne or on the surface which provides point-to-point guidance information or position data to aircraft in flight. Ndbs are non-directional beacons. A waypoint is a set of coordinates that is typically given as longitude, latitude, and altitude. 
         [0014]    The company route data contains information about the legs of the company route. This information specifies the details of each flight segment of a company route commonly known as “VIA”. Each VIA can be an alternate airport, an approach, an airway, a direct path to a fix, an initial fix, a SID (Standard Instrument Departure), or a STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route). 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows the conventional process of creating and verifying company routes by the navigation personnel. Navigation personnel  10  rely on company route requirements  12  to produce a company route  14 . The designing process is complicated for the navigation personnel  10  since the process involves references to charts and other aeronautical information. For example, the navigation personnel  10  use en-route paper charts  16 , terminal paper charts  18 , and other aeronautical information paper charts  20  as inputs to their design process. The navigation personnel  10  refer to the applicable en-route paper charts  16 , terminal paper charts  18 , and other aeronautical information paper charts  20  in creating the company route  14  based on the pre-defined company route requirements  12 . 
         [0016]    This process of creating the company route  14  is manual and time consuming, and may lead to errors. Moreover, design and verification of the company route  14  are not integrated by the process. Verification of the company route  14  as currently performed is tedious and drawn out because it involves manually looking at the coded company route data in text format to check for the correctness of the company route  14 . 
         [0017]    Additionally, the current en-route paper charts  16 , the terminal paper charts  18 , and the other aeronautical information paper charts  20  are very cluttered, especially the en-route paper charts  16 , which makes it very tedious for the navigation personnel  10  to expediently select the required airway segments. Further, there is no mechanism to display the company route  14  graphically during the construction process, making the design process even more difficult. 
         [0018]      FIG. 2  illustrates a computer system  30  that overcomes one or more of the problems associated with the current manual process of designing and/or verifying company routes. The computer system  30  includes a computer  31  that includes a selection engine  32 , a compute engine  34 , a render engine  36 . The computer system  30  further includes a terrain database  38 , an obstacle database  40 , and a navigation database  42 . The terrain database  38  interfaces with the selection engine  32  through a terrain database manager  44 , the obstacle database  40  interfaces with the selection engine  32  through an obstacle database manager  46 , and the navigation database  42  interfaces with the selection engine  32  through a navigation database manager  48 . The render engine  36  communicates with a monitor  50  so that the design and/or verification of the company route  14  may be displayed graphically. The compute engine makes computations as needed. 
         [0019]    An automated flight block  52  can be used by the user to fly through the coded company route once the company route has been designed. During automated flight, the user cannot change any dynamic parameters such as aircraft velocity, pitch, roll and yaw. The user can only stop the flight at the desired location. However, an user controlled flight block  54  allows the user to assume manual control of these dynamic parameters. 
         [0020]    The computer system  30  can be used by the navigation personnel  10  to encode the company route  14  in an interactive manner (shown, for example, by way of the flow chart of  FIG. 3 ). Additionally or alternatively, the computer system  30  can be used by the navigation personnel  10  to verify the encoded company route  14  by performing a virtual fly through the encoded company route  14  (shown, for example, by way of the flow chart of  FIG. 4 ). The design and/or verification process shown by way of example in  FIGS. 3 and 4  can be performed by desktop applications executing on the computer system  30 . 
         [0021]    The flow chart of  FIG. 3  is an example of a route building process  60  that can be executed by the computer system  30  and that eases the encoding of the company route  14 , thereby lessening the burden on the navigation personnel  10 . The route building process  60  begins with the configuration of a map display area at  62 . The navigation personnel  10  can use this configured map display area to code the company route  14 . This configured map display area is displayed on the monitor  50 . 
         [0022]    The map display area is the area which the user configures by setting the latitude and longitude position of the rectangular bounding box and the range. This view may be constructed both in 2D and 3D. The map display area is computed based on the current position (latitude and longitude) as specified by the user and the distance up to which the user wants the simulated view to be constructed. Based on these two inputs, a 2D rectangular view and a 3D view volume will be constructed programmatically. 
         [0023]    Required information for the configured map display area is fetched from the terrain database  38 , from the obstacle database  40 , and from the navigation database  42  at  64 . For example, the required information fetched at  64  can include all of the airports within the map display area configured at  62 . Also, terrain, obstacle and navigation data, and all airports, navaids, ndbs, and waypoints in the configured map area/volume are fetched and displayed. 
         [0024]    At  66 , the computer system  30  determines whether the navigation personnel  10  has positioned a mouse cursor over any of the airports (fixes) displayed on the monitor  50  within the configured map area. If so, the navigation personnel  10  at  68  selects the origin and destination airports (fixes) for the company route  14  from among the fixes displayed on the monitor  50  within the configured map area such as by clicking on these origin and destination airports. 
         [0025]    At this point, the navigation personnel  10  starts the coding of the company route, keeping the selected origin airport as the starting fix. Accordingly, the route building process  60  the navigation personnel  10  selects a next via (route) type in building the company route  14  at  70  selects in response to a suitable operation by the navigation personnel  10 . This via type is in the form of a record, and this next record, for example, can be a fix, an airway, or a procedure. Depending on the selection of the next via type (whether a fix, an airway, or a procedure), required features will be rendered on the map area displayed on the monitor  50  by the route building process  60 . A desired fix, airway, or procedure is interactively selected by suitable operation of the navigation personnel  10  and is added to the record of the company route  14 . This route building process  60  continues to iterate until the navigation personnel  10  selects the destination record as the next record, at which point the record of the company route  14  is complete. 
         [0026]    A procedure is a collection of fixes that create a coded path for flight departures and arrivals. It can be classified in three categories—SID (Standard Instrument Departure), STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) and APPROACH. Generic example for a procedure (SID). The following chart is an example of such a procedure: 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 AirportName 
                 ProcedureIdent 
                 Cycle 
                 Rwy 
                 Fix 
                 PathTerminator 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 VHHH 
                 ATEN2A 
                 B 
                 07R 
                 PORPA 
                 CF 
               
               
                 VHHH 
                 ATEN2A 
                 B 
                 07R 
                 RAMEN 
                 DF 
               
               
                 VHHH 
                 ATEN2A 
                 B 
                 07R 
                 COLEY 
                 TF 
               
               
                 VHHH 
                 ATEN2A 
                 B 
                 07R 
                 ATENA 
                 TF 
               
               
                 VHHH 
                 ATEN2A 
                 B 
                 07R 
                 BEKOL 
                 TF 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0027]    Thus, if the next selected record is a fix as determined at  72 , all non-directional (radio) beacons (NDBs), navigational aids (Navaids) such as ILS, and/or waypoints within proximity of the current fix (such as within a circular radius of 75 nautical miles of the current fix) are fetched from the navigation database manager  48  and are displayed on the monitor  50  at  74 . When the navigation personnel  10  have just begun building the company route  14 , the current fix is the origin, such as source airport, of the flight. At  76 , the computer system  30  determines whether the navigation personnel  10  has positioned a mouse cursor over a desired one of the displayed NDBs, Navaids, or waypoints. The navigation personnel  10  at  78  selects the desired NDB, Navaid, or waypoint for building the company route  14 . The route building process  60  adds this selected record for the company route  14  at  80  to the database corresponding to the company route  14 . 
         [0028]    Terrain and obstacle features can also be used by the route building process  60 . For example, the route building process  60  can be arranged to provide a warning when the navigation personnel  10  makes a selection that conflicts with the terrain and obstacle features. Thus, the route building process can be made intelligent to perform dynamic/runtime analysis of the detection of terrain/obstacle presence on the path which is being coded by the navigational personnel. 
         [0029]    If the next selected record is an airway as determined at  82 , all airways having a starting fix as the current fix previously selected by the navigation personnel  10  are fetched from the navigation database manager  48  and are displayed on the monitor  50  at  84 . For example, if the immediately previous fix selected by the navigation personnel  10  is the source or origin airport, such as when the navigation personnel  10  have just begun building the company route  14 , then all airways that have this airport as their starting fix are displayed at  84 . At  86 , the computer system  30  determines whether the navigation personnel  10  has positioned a mouse cursor over a desired one of the displayed airways. The navigation personnel  10  at  88  selects the desired airway for building the company route  14 . This selected record for the company route  14  is added at  80  to the database corresponding to the company route  14 . 
         [0030]    If the next selected record is a procedure as determined at  90 , all relevant procedures are fetched from the navigation database manager  48  and are displayed on the monitor  50  at  92 . At  94 , the computer system  30  determines whether the navigation personnel  10  has positioned a mouse cursor over a desired one of the displayed procedures. The navigation personnel  10  at  96  selects the desired procedure for building the company route  14 . This selected record for the company route  14  is added at  80  to the database corresponding to the company route  14 . 
         [0031]    A procedure helps in defining a departure path from the runway. It also helps in defining an arrival and approach path to the desired runway. 
         [0032]    If the building of the company route  14  is not complete and there are more records to select in building the company route  14  as determined at  98 , the route building process  60  returns to  70  to permit the navigation personnel  10  to select the next record. However, when the building of the company route  14  is complete and there are no more records to select in building the company route  14  as determined at  98 , a check is made at  97  to determine whether the route is a valid route. In making this check, the route building process  60 , for example, may determine one or more of the following: whether the client ID assigned to the route is blank, whether the route ID assigned to the route is blank, whether any fix ID is NULL, whether each fix has been correctly designated, whether the sequence number is blank or numeric, whether each VIA has been correctly designated, whether each transition is correct, and/or whether the altitude has been specified as a number or a flight level. Additional or alternative checks can be made. If the route is not valid, a flag message is issued at  99  and/or the route is deleted from the database. Program flow then returns to  66  to amend the current route or to build a new route. Once a route is determined to be valid at  97 , the route building process  60  ends. 
         [0033]    The user configures the map area by specifying North-East and South-West corner in terms of Latitude/Longitude. After the selection of the extreme corners, data will be processed by the selection engine  32  and passed to the compute engine  34 . The compute engine  34  performs all mathematical calculations including calculating parameters such as range for the view and preparation of the viewing volume. Using the North-East and South-West Latitude/Longitude coordinates, the compute engine  34  fetches the terrain, obstacle and navigation data from the respective databases. These data will be refined and given to the render engine  36  to display on the computer screen. Instead of separate engines, the program  60  may be executed by a single engine. 
         [0034]    The vehicle route data stored at  80 , for example, may have a format consistent with ARINC  424 /Navigation Data—Record layout/Company Route Records. Accordingly, this vehicle route data can include the following elements: record type, customer ID, origin of route, destination of route, route ID, record sequence number, type of route, sid/star/app/awy ID for type of route, “to fix,” runway transition, enroute transition, cruise altitude, and cycle date. The record type, for example, may indicate whether the data in the record is standard data or data tailored by the user. The record sequence number defines the location of the record in the sequence defining the route of the flight identified by the route ID. The route type includes alternate airport, approach route, designated airway, direct to fix, initial fix, preferred route, route via fix, route via fix not permitted, standard instrument departure, standard instrument departure—enroute transition, standard instrument departure—runway transition, standard terminal arrival and profile descent, standard terminal arrival and profile descent—enroute transition, and standard terminal arrival and profile descent—runway transition. The sid/star/app/awy ID is the identification of the particular route to be flown as reference by the route type. The “to fix” data is a company route and preferred route “to fix” filed that is used to terminate the route referenced by the sid/star/app/awy ID, or to terminate a direct segment or to start an initial segment when no sid/star/app/awy ID is referenced. 
         [0035]    The flow chart of  FIG. 4  is an example of a verification process  100  that can be executed by the computer system  30  and that can be used by the navigation personnel  10  to verify the company route  14  such as when the company route  14  is encoded with use of the route building process  60 . The verification process  100  flies the company route  14  virtually in order to check its validity and correctness. A three dimensional representation of the company route  14  provides a better understanding of the designed company route  14  and, therefore, reduces the workload on the navigation personnel  10 . Also, a three dimensional representation of the terrain and obstacles below the company route  14  help to visualize its path position with respect to the terrain and obstacles. This visualization permits easier detection of potential conflicts between the company route  14  and the terrain and obstacles along the company route  14 , and also allow the navigation personnel  10  to design the company route  14  around any hazardous areas. 
         [0036]    Verification begins at  102  with the navigation personnel  10  selecting the company route  14  for verification. When the company route  14  is selected at  102 , the coordinates of all fixes listed in the record of the company route  14  are fetched from the navigation database  42  at  104 . At  106 , the verification process  100  performs any interpolation between the fixes in order to determine additional coordinates and heading information that are required to smooth the flight path along the company route  14 . 
         [0037]    The virtual fly through the company route  14  is started at  108 . At  110 , the virtual fly through starts at the coordinates of the first fix, typically the airport from which the company route  14  originates. At  112 , terrain and obstacle information within a predefined distance of the first fix coordinates are fetched from the terrain and obstacle databases  38  and  40  and are buffered by the computer system  30 . 
         [0038]    At  114 , the computer system  30  constructs a three dimensional model of the terrain and obstacles corresponding to the terrain and obstacle information fetched at  112  based on the current fix coordinates set at  110 . If the current position is a fix as determined as  116 , highlighting information for the fix is added to the three dimensional model at  118 . This highlighting information may include but not be limited to fix identifier, altitude of the fix (if present), and frequency of the fix in case the fix is a navaid or ndb. If the current position is not a fix as determined as  116 , or after highlighting information for the fix has been added to the three dimensional model at  118 , this three dimensional model is rendered and displayed by the monitor  50  at  120 . 
         [0039]    The designed route can be displayed in three dimensions. The flight path made up of fixes will be rendered in three dimensions which the user will view while validating the coded path or a demo fly of the coded path or company route. The flight path can be rendered on top of rendered terrain and obstacle data. 
         [0040]    At  122 , the computer system  30  determines whether it is necessary to refill the buffer with terrain and obstacle information corresponding to the current position along the flight path. If so, the buffer is refilled at  124  with terrain and obstacle information fetched from the terrain and obstacle databases  38  and  40 . If not, or after the buffer is refilled with terrain and obstacle information fetched from the terrain and obstacle databases  38  and  40  at  124 , the computer system  30  determines at  126  whether the current position of the virtual fly through is the last fix of the constructed flight path for the company route  14 . 
         [0041]    If not, the coordinates of the next fix along the company route  14  is set at  128  and program flow returns to  114  to add the appropriate information to the three dimensional model. If the current position of the virtual fly through is the last fix as determined at  126 , the computer system  30  determines at  130  whether to restart the virtual fly through, i.e., whether the navigational personnel want to virtually fly the company route  14  again. If so, program flow returns to  110 . If not, the execution of the verification process  100  ends. 
         [0042]    Accordingly, the computer system  30 , with the route building process  60  and/or the verification process  100 , is capable of designing the company route  14  in an interactive and graphical way, such as by way of a two dimensional map. The designed company route  14  is verifiable by virtually flying the company route  14  in presence of actual terrain and obstacles. The computer system  30  displays all of the airports in the selected area. Origin and destination fixes are chosen by the navigation personnel  10 , starting the route encoding process with the origin airport as the starting fix. The computer system  30  provides the navigation personnel  10  with the ability to specify the next via type (e.g., fix, airway, or procedure). Depending on this selection, required features are rendered on the map area. The navigation personnel  10  interactively selects the desired fix and adds it to the record of the company route  14 . This process is followed until the navigation personnel  10  sets the next record as the destination record. At this point, the record is marked as completed record. 
         [0043]      FIG. 5  shows by way of example a display on the monitor  50  of source and destination airports OMSJ and OOMS, respectively, for a company route, such as the company route  14 , against the backdrop of a map selected by the navigation personnel  10 . The beginnings of the population of the record of the company route  14  is shown in the bottom right of  FIG. 5 . This display gives the navigation personnel  10  a clear view of the positions of these airport positions and along with their identifiers. 
         [0044]      FIG. 6  shows that the navigation personnel  10  has specified the next via type as a SID such that all of the applicable Standard Instrument Departures are shown in the left side of the Selection Window. The navigation personnel  10  can select the required SID (TARDI) and add it to the company route  14 . Once the SID is added, the Company Route Window is updated to include the final fix of the SID.  FIG. 6  shows the step increment in the company route construction. The exact process may differ, for example, such as in the case where a procedure needs to be selected. In this latter case, the Selection Window would show the list of available procedures from which selections can be made. 
         [0045]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , the navigation personnel  10  has specified the next via type as an airway. All of the airways passing through the fix TARDI are displayed against the backdrop of the map. In this example, the navigation personnel  10  has selected airway N 629  which starts from the fix TARDI. The list of fixes of the airway is shown in the Selection Window. The navigation personnel  10  chooses the fix MCT which is the end of the airway fix selection. Thereafter, the Company Route Window is updated to include the airway record as shown. 
         [0046]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the navigation personnel  10  has selected the next via type as the destination which is considered as the end of the record of the company route  14  (shown on the right bottom side). The graphical output is shown on the monitor  50  which allows the navigation personnel  10  to validate the constructed company route  14  both textually as well as graphically on the same screen. The screens may differ from those shown such as in case where the arrivals and approach need to be selected. The example shown in  FIGS. 5-8  is a simple one to showcase the graphical construction of the company route  14 . The computer system  30  can be configured to handle any kind of company route design. 
         [0047]    Once full company route is coded, the navigation personnel  10  can virtually fly through the coded path as shown in  FIG. 9 . This virtual fly through reduces the risk of an incorrect route. If any modification to the data is made, the navigation personnel  10  can again check the changes in the data graphically in real time. The route will be flown virtually to check for validity and correctness. A three dimensional representation of company route provides a better understanding of the designed route and, therefore, reduces the workload of the navigation personnel  10 . A three dimensional representation of terrain and obstacle below the planned company route helps the navigation personnel  10  to visualize path position with respect to terrain and obstacles. This representation is an easy way to detect potential company route conflicts with terrain and obstacles, and also to design optimal paths around hazardous areas. 
         [0048]    Certain modifications of the present invention have been discussed above. Other modifications of the present invention will occur to those practicing in the art of the present invention. For example, as described above, company routes are designed on the ground by navigation personnel. However, company routes could be designed by navigation personnel is the air or on water. 
         [0049]    Accordingly, the description of the present invention is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the invention. The details may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use of all modifications which are within the scope of the appended claims is reserved.