Air Traffic Data Aggregation and De-confliction via Relay Aircraft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current air traffic and weather surveillance systems face challenges in aggregating and de-conflicting data from multiple aircraft and non-aircraft sources, especially in remote areas outside the range of conventional radio surveillance or radar systems, leading to incomplete and conflicting data sets that can hinder situational awareness and collision avoidance.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for aggregating and de-conflicting composite air traffic radio surveillance data from multiple aircraft and non-aircraft sources, including weather data, by relaying signals between aircraft and a data aggregating system, which processes and verifies data from various sources to generate a unified, accurate, and comprehensive data set.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is collected from multiple aircraft and non-aircraft sources in remote areas, then situational awareness and collision avoidance capabilities are improved, but data conflicts and incomplete data sets occur due to overlapping coverage areas and different detection methods
Solution Approach 1:
A ground-based server acts as an intermediary to receive, aggregate, and de-conflict weather and air traffic data from multiple aircraft and non-aircraft sources. The server processes overlapping data sets, resolves conflicts through verification algorithms, and distributes unified data to aircraft, eliminating direct peer-to-peer data conflicts while maintaining improved situational awareness
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the ground-based server continuously receives data from multiple sources, identifies conflicts, verifies information through cross-checking, and sends corrected data back to aircraft. This closed-loop feedback process resolves data conflicts iteratively while maintaining reliable situational awareness
2Reliability
If conventional radio surveillance and radar systems are used, then air traffic tracking is effective within coverage areas, but surveillance is ineffective in remote areas outside radar range
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from ground-based radar surveillance (two-dimensional ground coverage) to airborne-to-airborne data relay (three-dimensional aerial network). Aircraft out of range of ground radar can relay their positions and detected air traffic to other aircraft that are within communication range, extending surveillance coverage to remote areas through a multi-dimensional airborne network
Solution Approach 2:
Aircraft are equipped with multi-functional systems that serve both as primary flight vehicles and as mobile surveillance/relay nodes. The same airborne systems used for navigation and communication also perform air traffic surveillance and data relaying, eliminating the need for separate ground infrastructure in remote areas while maintaining effective tracking
Data Source
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AI summary
In some examples, a system is configured to receive composite air traffic radio surveillance data from one or more relaying aircraft, the composite air traffic radio surveillance data comprising air traffic radio surveillance data from the one or more relaying aircraft and air traffic radio surveillance data relayed by the one or more relaying aircraft from one or more additional aircraft. The system is further configured to receive data from one or more non-aircraft data sources, and aggregate and de-conflict the composite air traffic radio surveillance data and the data from the one or more non-aircraft data sources, thereby generating an aggregated and de-conflicted data set. The system is further configured to generate an output based at least in part on the aggregated and de-conflicted data set.