Demonstrating a Cloud-Enabled Flight Management System

We present an architecture that facilitates the implementation of a concept called Cloud FMS
^TM
(CFMS).
¹
The architecture uses a cloud-based digital twin of the core Flight Management System (FMS) functionality for each aircraft. This digital twin is synchronized with the onboard FMS via a high-speed, low-latency air-ground network. The synchronized data can be used for many purposes, the most important of which are data sharing and what-if analyses. In this paper, we discuss one of these uses – improving the efficiency of flight plan negotiation given the introduction of a real-time traffic flow constraint. We have shown through demonstration that this concept is implementable and feasible today. This paper explains the results of simulations and flight tests that demonstrated the concept. This architecture and concept can be used for use cases to improve the efficiency and flow of the National Airspace System (NAS), including new entrants. This concept can also be applied to Advanced Air Mobility concepts for similar purposes. In addition, it could be a feasible architecture to implement the concept of Digital Flight currently being explored by NASA and RTCA.