Patent — available for licensing
Wind-Optimal Cruise Airspeed Mode for Flight Management Systems (FMS)
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
Energy-efficient flight is especially important for commercial viability of aviation. Even a small amount of fuel savings - 5% per flight - can be significant because of the scale of operations, with tens of thousands of flights per day in the US alone. Energy efficient flight planning is even more important for electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft with battery powered distributed electric propulsion (DEP) systems because the low specific energy of the lithium-ion polymer (Li-Po) batteries necessitates energy-efficient flight planning. NASA’s Ames Research Center has developed a novel speed mode for FMSs, a wind-optimal airspeed mode that optimizes route planning for minimum-energy usage based on actual and predicted wind conditions. Using real-time computation, an FMS can continuously update the wind-optimal airspeed target and try to maintain the optimal airspeed for current flight conditions for the entire cruise portion of the flight.