Flight Profile and Flight Path

The getTimeDist3D() and getShapepoints3D() functions accommodate different types of flight profiles/paths, which are specified in the routeType input argument. These profiles describe the aircraft’s change in altitude over time, and are used to mimic certain types of flight.

Specifically, VeRoViz defines four pre-determined flight profiles/paths: - ‘square’ - The aircraft takes off vertically to a cruise altitude, flies at the cruise altitude to the destination, then lands vertically. This type of profile is common with quadcopter drones. - ‘triangular’ - The aircraft climbs to a cruising altitude and then immediately descends to the destination. - ‘trapezoidal’ - A hybrid of the ‘square’ and ‘triangular’ profiles, in the ‘trapezoidal’ profile the aircraft takes off while also moving toward the destination. It then flies at the cruise altitude before descending while also moving toward the destination. - ‘straight’ - The aircraft flies directly from the origin to the destination. This would typically be useful if the origin and destination are at different altitudes, or if both locations have a positive altitude.

Note

The “flight profiles” employed in VeRoViz are approximations, and do not necessarily correspond to flight paths that are feasible for certain aircraft. These flight profiles are intended to be used for visualization purposes.

Each profile is fully characterized by a specific combination of parameters, as described in the table below. If a parameter is provided, but is not required, it will be ignored.

	routeType options
Field name	‘square’	‘triangular’	‘trapezoidal’	‘straight’
takeoffSpeedMPS	✓		✓
climbRateMPS			✓
cruiseSpeedMPS	✓	✓	✓	✓
cruiseAltMetersAGL	✓	✓	✓
landSpeedMPS	✓		✓
descentRateMPS			✓

For problems involving coordinated vehicles, it is often necessary for one vehicle to wait for another. The getShapepoints3D() function includes loiterPosition and earliestLandTime arguments, which are used to specify where an aircraft would wait (loiter) and the earliest time at which the aircraft can land.

The available loiter positions are specific to each flight profile. The table below describes the loiterPosition options for each routeType.

	routeType options
loiterPosition	‘square’	‘triangular’	‘trapezoidal’	‘straight’
‘beforeTakeoff’	✓	✓	✓	✓
‘takeoffAtAlt’	✓	✓	✓
‘arrivalAtAlt’	✓	✓ (same as takeoffAtAlts)	✓
‘afterLand’	✓	✓	✓	✓

• ‘beforeTakeoff’ - Loitering occurs before the aircraft leaves its starting location.

• ‘takeoffAtAlt’ - Loitering occurs when the aircraft reaches its cruise altitude.

• ‘arrivalAtAlt’ - Loitering occurs at the cruise altitude when the aircraft reaches the [lat,lon] coordinate of the destination.

• ‘afterLand’ - Loitering occurs after the aircraft completes its route to the destination. The aircraft will then be held in place until earliestLandTime (the name of this parameter is misleading in this case, as the aircraft will have already landed before that time).