An Expert System for Wind Shear Avoidance

A study of intelligent guidance and control concepts for protecting against the adverse effects of wind shear during aircraft takeoffs and landings is being conducted, with current emphasis on developing an expert system for wind shear avoidance. Principal objectives are to develop methods for assessing the likelihood of wind shear encounter (based on real-time information in the cockpit), for deciding what flight path to pursue (e.g., takeoff abort, landing go-around, or normal climbout or glide slope), and for using the aircraft's full potential for combating wind shear. This study requires the definition of both deterministic and statistical techniques for fusing internal and external information, for making "go/no-go" decisions, and for generating commands to the aircraft's autopilot and flight directors for both automatic and manually controlled flight. The program has begun with the development of the WidShear Safety Advisor, an expert system for pilot aiding that is based on the FAA Windshear Training Aid, a two-volume manual that presents an overview, pilot guide, training program, and substantiating data provides guidelines for this initial development. The WindShear Safety Advisor expert system currently contains over 200 rules and is coded in the LISP programming language.

[1]  A. Lambregts.  Vertical flight path and speed control autopilot design using total energy principles , 1983 .

[2]  W. L. Sherman.  A theoretical analysis of airplane longitudinal stability and control as affected by wind shear , 1977 .

[3]  A. J. Ostroff,et al.  Total energy-rate feedback for automatic glide-slope tracking during wind-shear penetration , 1984 .

[4]  W. Frost.  Flight in low-level wind shear , 1983 .

[5]  Robert F. Stengel,et al.  Performance limits for optimal microburst encounter , 1988 .

[6]  E. G. Rynaski,et al.  Control concepts for the alleviation of windshears and gusts , 1982 .

[7]  A. Miele,et al.  Optimal take-off trajectories in the presence of windshear , 1986 .

[8]  R. Bray.  A method for three-dimensional modeling of wind-shear environments for flight simulator applications , 1984 .

[9]  W H Foy.  Airborne Aids for Coping with Low-Level Wind Shear. , 1979 .

[10]  Tetsuya Theodore. Fujita,et al.  The Joint Airport Weather Studies (JAWS) project , 1983 .

[11]  R. Stengel.  SOLVING THE PILOT'S WIND-SHEAR PROBLEM. , 1985 .

[12]  Robert F. Stengel.  Optimal control laws for microburst encounter , 1986 .

[13]  Robert K. Heffley,et al.  Simulation and Analysis of Wind Shear Hazard. , 1977 .

[14]  Tetsuya Theodore. Fujita,et al.  Downbursts and microbursts - An aviation hazard , 1980 .

[15]  Robert F. Stengel,et al.  Optimal Flight Paths Through Microburst Wind Profiles , 1986 .

[16]  J. Gera.  The influence of vertical wind gradients on the longitudinal motion of airplanes , 1971 .

[17]  R. M. Hueschen,et al.  Evaluation of a total energy-rate sensor on a transport airplane , 1983 .

[18]  R. E. Bach,et al.  The analysis of airline flight records for winds and performance with application to the Delta 191 accident , 1986 .

[19]  R. W. Huff,et al.  H-Dot Automatic Carrier Landing System for Approach Control in Turbulence , 1981 .

[20]  H. Joerck.  Design of wind shear filters , 1984 .

[21]  Robert F. Stengel,et al.  Analysis of aircraft control strategies for microburst encounter. [low altitude wind shear , 1984 .

[22]  Robert F. Stengel.  COMBINING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE REASONING IN AIRCRAFT FAILURE DIAGNOSIS. , 1985 .