Air Traffic Control System Trajectory Negotiation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current air traffic management systems face challenges in efficiently negotiating and synchronizing aircraft trajectories to achieve user-preferred paths while ensuring safety and operational efficiency, particularly in managing multiple aircraft within a given airspace.
Innovation Solution
The method involves an air traffic control system that monitors and generates scheduled times-of-arrival for aircraft, processes trajectory modification requests, and uses predictive trajectory parameters to ensure aircraft arrive at metering fix points within optimal time ranges, while also considering minimum fuel-cost speeds and altitudes, thereby facilitating system-preferred schedules and reducing operational costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If automated trajectory negotiation systems are implemented to allow aircraft to fly user-preferred trajectories, then fuel efficiency and operational costs are improved, but system complexity and difficulty of implementation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows aircraft to autonomously negotiate their own trajectory modifications by transmitting requests to the ATC system and receiving clearances, eliminating the need for manual controller-pilot negotiations and reducing implementation complexity while maintaining fuel efficiency benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary trajectory predictions and conflict detections before finalizing flight paths, allowing the ATC system to pre-calculate metering fix arrival times and evaluate multiple trajectory options, thereby simplifying real-time decision-making while optimizing fuel consumption
2Productivity
If multiple trajectory modification requests are processed simultaneously for multiple aircraft, then air traffic management efficiency is improved, but computational complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the air traffic management process into distinct phases: trajectory prediction, conflict detection, negotiation request generation, and clearance issuance. Each phase handles specific aircraft subsets independently, allowing parallel processing of multiple requests without overwhelming computational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system processes trajectory modifications partially by evaluating only the necessary parameters for each negotiation request rather than complete trajectory re-planning, and by handling excessive requests through a queueing mechanism that processes them in priority order, maintaining efficiency while managing computational load
3Reliability
If precise four-dimensional trajectory predictions are used to reduce uncertainty of aircraft future location, then safety and separation management are improved, but measurement and prediction difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors actual aircraft positions and compares them against predicted four-dimensional trajectories, using the discrepancies to update and refine future predictions. This feedback loop improves prediction accuracy and reliability over time while managing the complexity of real-time measurements through automated correction algorithms
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems scheduling and negotiating air traffic within an airspace surrounding an airport and scheduled to land at the airport. An air traffic control (ATC) system is used to monitor the altitudes, speeds and lateral routes of aircraft as they enter the airspace. The ATC system generates a scheduled time-of-arrival (STA) for each aircraft at one or more meter fix points associated with the airport, the STA for each aircraft is stored, and data is received or inferred with the ATC system for at least a first of the aircraft, including a minimum fuel-cost speed and predicted trajectory parameters of the first aircraft based on current values of its existing trajectory parameters. Auxiliary data, including earliest and latest estimated time-of-arrival ETAmin and ETAmax at the meter fix point, are generated for the first aircraft using the predicted trajectory parameters. The ATC system determines whether the STA of the first aircraft is in or outside an ETA range bounded by its ETAmin and ETAmax. Instructions are transmitted to the first aircraft to ensure its arrival at the meter fix point at the STA or the ETAmin of the first aircraft, and the STA is updated for each aircraft stored in the queue.