Method and system for generating and providing descriptors of meteorological obstacles
A weather data system in an aircraft which: processes georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data in order to categorize a weather severity of the meteorological obstacles and to obtain two-dimensional meteorological-obstacle images that are separated by weather-severity level; polygonizes through outline simplification the meteorological obstacles of the two-dimensional images, for each weather-severity level, in order to obtain polygons representative of the meteorological obstacles; and provides descriptors of meteorological obstacles to a flight management system of the aircraft, the descriptors describing georeferenced polygons; receives at least one requirement parameter representative of a requirement of the flight management system; and configures the polygonization and/or the data processing depending on the requirement.
1 . A method for determining a path allowing meteorological obstacles to be avoided by an aircraft, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a flight management system of the aircraft to a weather data system located on board the aircraft, at least one requirement parameter representative of a requirement of the flight management system;
providing descriptors of meteorological obstacles with the weather data system, the weather data system comprising electronic circuitry configured to implement the following steps:
receiving the at least one requirement parameter transmitted by the flight management system;
obtaining georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data;
processing the georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data in order to categorize a weather severity of meteorological obstacles and to obtain two-dimensional meteorological-obstacle images separated by weather-severity level;
polygonising, through outline simplification, meteorological obstacles of the two-dimensional images, for each weather-severity level, in order to obtain polygons representative of the meteorological obstacles, and georeferencing the obtained polygons;
configuring the processing, the polygonising, or both depending on the at least one requirement parameter; and
providing descriptors of the meteorological obstacles to the flight management system, the descriptors describing the obtained georeferenced polygons; and
wherein the method further comprises:
computing by the flight management system, a computed path allowing meteorological obstacles to be avoided by the aircraft; and
guiding the aircraft according to the computed path,
wherein the requirement of the flight management system is representative of:
a computational resource of the flight management system, or a memory resource capacity of the flight management system, or both; or
a requirement of decreasing journey time, or flight time, between a current position of the aircraft at a time of computation of the computed path by the flight management system and a destination of the aircraft; or
a requirement in respect of fuel consumption and environmental impact; or
any combination thereof.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data are independently processed in two dimensions per altitude slice, and
wherein the method further comprises:
reconstructing in three dimensions meteorological obstacles in polygon form per altitude slice.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
applying morphological filters to the images separated by weather-severity level, the morphological filters comprising a combination of a dilation operation followed by an erosion operation.
4 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
applying another filter configured to remove, per weather-severity level, meteorological obstacles having an area smaller than a predetermined area threshold.
5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
adapting a value of the predetermined area threshold depending on said at least one requirement parameter.
6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein an adaptation of said value of the area threshold corresponds to an increase with respect to a default value of said area threshold when said at least one requirement parameter is representative of a requirement of the flight management system corresponding to a computational-, or memory-, or both resource capacity of the flight management system or to the decrease in journey time.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one weather-severity level corresponds to an impact relating to a safety of the aircraft, or
wherein at least one weather-severity level corresponds to an impact relating to a performance of the aircraft,
or both.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polygonising step is carried out using a maximum distance dependent on a calibration parameter corresponding to one of said at least one requirement parameter.
9 . The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
increasing with respect to a default value said maximum distance, when said at least one requirement parameter is representative of a requirement of the flight management system corresponding to a computational-, or memory-, or both resource capacity of the flight management system,
decreasing with respect to a default value said maximum distance, when said at least one requirement parameter is representative of a requirement of the flight management system corresponding to the decrease in journey time or to a decrease in a fuel consumption and in an environmental impact.
10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the descriptors of the meteorological obstacles to a display of the aircraft.
11 . An avionics system configured to be located on board an aircraft, the avionic system comprising:
a flight management system; and,
a weather data system,
wherein the flight management system is configured to transmit to the weather data system, at least one requirement parameter being representative of a requirement of the flight management system,
wherein the weather data system comprises:
electronic circuitry configured to implement the following steps:
receiving the at least one requirement parameter transmitted by the flight management system;
obtaining georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data;
processing the georeferenced meteorological-obstacle data in order to categorize a weather severity of meteorological obstacles and to obtain two-dimensional meteorological-obstacle images separated by weather-severity level;
polygonising through outline simplification the meteorological obstacles of the two-dimensional images, for each weather-severity level, in order to obtain polygons representative of meteorological obstacles, and georeferencing the obtained polygons;
configuring the processing, the polygonising, or both, depending on the at least one requirement parameter; and
providing descriptors of meteorological obstacles to the flight management system, the descriptors of meteorological obstacles describing the obtained georeferenced polygons;
wherein the flight management system is further configured to:
compute a computed path allowing meteorological obstacles to be avoided by the aircraft; and
transmit the computed path to a guiding system of the aircraft for guiding the aircraft according to the computed path,
wherein the requirement of the flight management system is representative of:
a computational resource of the flight management system, or a memory resource capacity of the flight management system, or both; or
a requirement of decreasing journey time, or flight time, between a current position of the aircraft at a time of computation of the computed path by the flight management system and a destination of the aircraft; or
a requirement in respect of fuel consumption and environmental impact; or
any combination thereof.
12 . An aircraft comprising:
the avionics system according to claim 11 .