Collaborative Trajectory Options Planning for the Flight Deck

We develop Flight Deck (FD) and Airline Operational Control (AOC) Decision Support Tools (DSTs) for strategic guidance to pilots for mitigating encounters with en route weather hazards. Implemented on either Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) or Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs), the system is designed to increase the likelihood of Air Traffic Control (ATC) approval of a pilots’ trajectory change request by strategically presenting multiple viable, pro-active trajectory change options to the pilot based on timely traffic and weather information. The information provided to the FD DST is coordinated with information provided to dispatchers working at AOC workstations for a shared situational awareness of the aviation weather hazard and a coordinated hazard mitigation strategy. Route options are formulated in the format of Trajectory Options Sets (TOSs), which facilitates quick approval by air traffic control automation.