Aircraft Spacing Control via ADS-B Speed Commands
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Solution Overview
Problem
Air traffic controller workload in high traffic density airspace leads to unnecessarily large spacing between aircraft, reducing efficiency and capacity in terminal airspace during approach and landing procedures.
Innovation Solution
An aircraft control system that uses processor, transceiver, and memory to receive and process position and velocity data from other aircraft, generating signals for speed commands to maintain specified spacing intervals, employing ADS-B technology and Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) to optimize aircraft separation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If air traffic controllers maintain large spacing between aircraft in high traffic density airspace, then safe separation is ensured, but efficiency and capacity of terminal airspace are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously receives real-time position and velocity data from other aircraft via ADS-B, processes this information to calculate optimal spacing, and generates speed commands with feedback to the host aircraft. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables dynamic adjustment of spacing based on actual traffic conditions, allowing reduced spacing while maintaining safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual air traffic controller judgment and mechanical communication systems with an automated electronic system that directly processes ADS-B data and generates speed commands. This substitution of manual control with automated electronic processing enables more precise and efficient spacing management.
2Measurement precision
If automated speed adjustment is used to control separation, then precision of spacing control is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system integrates multiple functions into a single automated platform: receiving ADS-B data, processing position and velocity information, calculating optimal spacing, generating speed commands, and displaying traffic information. This multi-functional integration achieves precise spacing control while managing system complexity through consolidation.
Solution Approach 2:
The host aircraft's system autonomously processes received ADS-B data and generates its own speed commands without requiring continuous external control input. The system serves itself by automatically adjusting spacing based on real-time data processing, reducing the need for complex external control mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft control system is delineated for a host aircraft, the system comprising a processor for executing one or more instructions that implement one or more functions of the aircraft control system, a transceiver for transmitting information from and receiving information for the host aircraft, and memory for storing the one or more instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the aircraft control system to: receive from the transceiver information from another aircraft, and generate from the received information a signal for use in the host aircraft to control separation between the host aircraft and the other aircraft while the aircraft are within a predefined range of a location where the aircraft plan to land.