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 which 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 WindShear 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, which 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.