Method for automatically re-joining a route of an aircraft

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically calculating, when executed by a computing device, a trajectory for re-joining an aircraft reference route, said method comprising a plurality of iterations, each iteration comprising at least:

detecting a presence or absence of a deviation from an active segment of said route;

if the presence of the deviation from the active segment of said route is detected:

selecting a route segment to be re-joined;

calculating a re-joining trajectory between a starting point and said route segment to be re-joined;

determining a validation state of the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined; and

if the validation state is a valid state:

assigning the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined to the trajectory for re-joining an aircraft route;

if the validation state is an invalid state:

verifying an existence of a next route segment fulfilling a selection condition;

if a next route segment fulfils said selection condition:

selecting said next route segment as route segment to be re-joined; and

returning to calculating of a re-joining trajectory for the route segment to be re-joined; and

if no next route segment fulfils said selection condition,

applying an exit procedure.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising, prior to selecting a route segment to be re-joined, determining an initial point of the re-joining trajectory at least from a current position of the aircraft.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the position of the aircraft at the initial point of the trajectory is determined from a predicted state of the aircraft by maintaining a current guidance mode for a predefined duration.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of initialization, consisting in disengaging a managed mode.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a condition of deviation from said route is verified when a distance between the aircraft and the route is greater than a predefined threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a condition of deviation from said route is verified when an angular deviation between a true route of the aircraft and the route is greater than a predefined threshold.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the selecting a route segment to be re-joined selects the active segment when a condition of deviation from said route has been verified.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein calculating a re-joining trajectory for said segment uses a predefined re-joining angle.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the re-joining trajectory for the segment is validated if said re-joining trajectory for the segment does not bear out a condition of sequencing from an end waypoint of the segment.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the condition of sequencing from the end waypoint of the segment is verified if the re-joining trajectory for the segment crosses a plane containing the end waypoint of the segment.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said plane is a vertical plane called a sequencing plane defined by:

if the route of the aircraft does not include any obligation to overfly the end waypoint of the segment, a plane bisecting a horizontal angle between the segment to be re-joined and the next segment; and

if the route of the aircraft includes an obligation to overfly the end waypoint of the segment, a plane at right angles to the active segment containing the end waypoint of said active segment.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein:

when the condition of sequencing from at least one end waypoint of a segment is borne out, the re-joining trajectory for the segment is saved until the point at which it crosses said plane containing the end waypoint of the segment; and

a next step calculating a re-joining trajectory for a route segment is initialized using said saved trajectory.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein applying an exit procedure comprises calculating a forced re-joining trajectory for a final waypoint.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the applying an exit procedure comprises raising an alert.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the last segment is the one for which an end waypoint is a final approach point.

16. A trajectory calculation system, comprising computation means configured to automatically perform a calculation of a re-joining trajectory for an aircraft route, said calculation comprising a plurality of iterations, each iteration comprising at least:

detecting a presence or absence of a deviation from an active segment of said route;

if the presence of the deviation from the active segment of said route is detected:

selecting a route segment to be re-joined;

calculating a re-joining trajectory between a starting point and said route segment to be re-joined; and

determining a validation state of the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined;

if the validation state is a valid state:

assigning the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined to the trajectory for re-joining an aircraft route;

if the validation state is an invalid state:

verifying an existence of a next route segment fulfilling a selection condition;

if a next route segment fulfils said selection condition:

selecting said next route segment as route segment to be re-joined; and

returning to calculating a re-joining trajectory for the route segment to be re-joined; and

if no next route segment fulfils said selection condition:

applying an exit procedure.

17. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing thereon a computer program, said computer program comprising computer-executable instructions adapted to be executed on a computer to implement a method for automatically calculating a re-joining trajectory for a route of an aircraft, said method comprising a plurality of iterations, each iteration comprising at least, for each iteration:

detecting a presence or absence of a deviation from an active segment of said route;

performing the following operations when the deviation from the active segment of said route is detected:

selecting a route segment to be re-joined;

calculating a re-joining trajectory between a starting point and said route segment to be re-joined; and

determining a validation state of the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined;

if the validation state is a valid state:

assigning the re-joining trajectory for said route segment to be re-joined to the trajectory for re-joining an aircraft route;

if the validation state is an invalid state:

verifying an existence of a next route segment fulfilling a selection condition;

if a next route segment fulfils said selection condition:

selecting said next route segment as route segment to be re-joined; and

returning to calculating a re-joining trajectory for the route segment to be re-joined; and

if no next route segment fulfils said selection condition:

applying an exit procedure.