Flight safety warning of iced aircraft based on reachability analysis and fuzzy inference

Abstract

A flight safety warning method based on reachability analysis and fuzzy inference is proposed against aircraft icing. A nonlinear model of iced aircraft with uncertainty is proposed based on the existing research results on the effects of icing and the uncertainty in icing detection. To deal with the uncertainty caused by icing, reachability analysis is used to estimate the safe flight envelope of iced aircraft. On this basis, fuzzy inference is employed for flight safety warning which can be used to enhance the pilot’s situational awareness in icing encounters. Simulations of the GTM (Generic Transport Model) aircraft show that, the proposed method has the potential to further increase the flight crew awareness about the risk of losing control in flight under icing.