Automatic real-time air traffic control system and method for maximizing landings / takeoffs capacity of the airport and minimizing aircrafts landing times

• US 10,037,704 B1
• Filed: 02/01/2017
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Myr
• Original Assignee: David Myr
• Inventors: Myr, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Truc M
• Application Number:
  US15/421,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20180218615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/002 Taxiing aids
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0065 for taking-off
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933

Abstract

The invention discloses a computerized method, system and device for maximizing airport landing and takeoff capacity by generating an optimized landings and takeoffs schedule for a plurality of aircrafts located in a vicinity of a specific airport by determining an optimal four dimensional (4D) trajectory for efficient landing/takeoff sequence and time schedule.

The aircrafts are separated by the number of parameters to ensure safety for the aircrafts according to the updated FAA/EASA standards. Accordingly, the model disclosed in the invention works under current FAA/EASA runway usage, precedence and time constrains.

Special Takeoffs Traffic Lights System is additionally disclosed, wherein Traffic Lights will be installed on the runway to increase the landing/takeoff safety, such traffic lights will have changing green/red colors on vacancy/occupancy of the specific runway.

The system could be used either as an automatic system or as a decision-support system for ATC personnel.

Claims

1. An air traffic control automated method for maximizing airport landing and takeoff capacity by generating an optimized landings and takeoffs queue and schedule for a plurality of aircrafts located in a vicinity of a specific airport through queuing the said aircrafts and determining an optimal four dimensional (4D) trajectory for efficient landing/takeoff sequence and time schedule, the method comprising the steps of:

a. establishing a centralized processor server unit for each airport air traffic control entity;

b. receiving and storing, at a centralized processor server, a schedules data on landings and takeoffs for a specific airport;

c. receiving and storing, at the said server, current location data and flight path data from all airplanes scheduled to land and takeoff at the said airport;

receiving and storing FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) flight safety regulations criteria data security regulations or EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) security regulations, if the landing is performed in European airport;

wherein a landing and takeoffs optimization is performed considering the abovementioned safety regulations criteria data, according to the steps mentioned below;

d. defining a special system of four dimensional coordinates (X,Y,Z,T) pertaining to the method, wherein the final approach point is defined as an origin of such system of coordinates, wherein X defines longitude, Y defined latitude, Z defines height, and T defines time;

e. defining, individually for each particular airport, an aerial sector for landings, and an aerial sector for takeoffs in such a way that there is a safety distance interval between them to comply with FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) security regulations or EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) security regulations, if the landing is performed in European airport;

f. building a virtual arc-shaped line near the airport, called an identification arc, such identification arc comprises a variety of identification points;

g. obtaining geographical coordinates and speed of each landing aircraft entering the identification arc area by checking if the aircraft is closer to the identification arc then a user predetermined tolerance level collecting landing aircrafts location and speed data;

h. determining, independently for each landing aircraft, an individual arc-shaped boundary line for that particular aircraft, called starting points line, such a line will be determined in such a way that landing time duration from that line until the end of landing will be identical for all landing aircrafts;

i. if two or more aircrafts arrive at the same time to the identification line, adjusting the trajectory on a segment between the identification line and a starting points'"'"' line by calculating the starting points lines for those particular aircrafts in such a way that they will arrive to the starting points line with the certain time difference larger than a predetermined safety time interval, wherein the aircraft will fly on this segment with constant speed and vertical position, while taking into consideration safety regulations and FAA/EASA regulatory distances and intervals;

j. determining, individually for each landing aircraft, its landing slope percentage based on trajectory starting point and current speed, under minimal and maximal speed and slope FAA/EASA requirements;

k. checking, individually for each aircraft, entering the starting points arc location area, a list of possible safe landing trajectories from the point on that arc to the parking area, while taking in consideration another landing aircrafts possible landing trajectories, safe distances between them and FAA/EASA landings safety regulations and distances, wherein a trajectory is defined as a sequence of four-dimensional positions that an aircraft follows, such a landing trajectory being determined in such a way that being divided into the five segments;

1) from the identification line to the starting points'"'"' line, such a trajectory will be determined with constant speed and vertical position;

     2) from the starting points'"'"' arc point to the start of descending, such a trajectory will be determined with constant speed and vertical position;

     3) from the start of descending until a final approach point with constant descent slope and constant deceleration, wherein such a trajectory is in the arc form;

     4) from the start of the final approach to a touchdown point with constant deceleration and the slope of descent, as a succession of straight line segments;

     5) runway segment, from the touchdown point, through the runway to a passengers sleeve location or bus location with constant speed, deceleration and vertical position, as a succession of straight line segments;

l. periodically checking for each landing aircraft, if the distance from the aircraft current location to the nearest vertex in the arc-shaped boundary line from which all landing trajectories will start, is less than a user-determined tolerance level, until determining that such a distance is less than the abovementioned user-determined tolerance level;

m. sending four-dimensional safe landing trajectory to the aircraft;

and, n. checking if the aircraft has deviated from the above provided four-dimensional safe landing trajectory, and, if distance from the said safe trajectory to the real time aircraft location is more than deviation tolerance, sending to the aircraft an instruction to return to the nearest available point of predefined trajectory above.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting, by a conversion unit, the obtained geographical coordinates into a X,Y coordinates, or X,Y coordinates plus (Universal Transverse Mercator) UTM coordinates tied to the airport data to adjust the data received to the data type available in the system.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, that further determines maximal amount of airplanes for landings and takeoffs pertinent to each runway with specific identification area parameters.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an alert to the pilots and to the airport'"'"' air traffic control unit if deviation from the planned trajectory is detected, and further generating a new trajectory taking in consideration all current safety constrains.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a runway can operate in a landings only mode or takeoffs only mode or both landings and takeoffs on the same runway mode.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the trajectory starts at a runway leave point.

7. The method of claim 1 that could be used either as an automatic or as a decision-support method for air traffic control personnel.

8. The method of claim 1 for altering landing schedules in a case of runway emergency, comprising receiving a runway emergency notice, and making one or more changes in landing trajectory of all landing aircrafts, wherein the landing trajectories of all landing aircrafts will reflect delay in their landing, wherein all the landing aircrafts will perform a go-around circles with current curvature radius and speed, such circles will be performed away from the shortest landing route and from the runway, and all aircrafts scheduled for the takeoff will not takeoff until the end of emergency status.

9. An air traffic control automated system for maximizing airport landing and takeoff capacity by generating an optimized landings and takeoffs schedule for a plurality of aircrafts located in a vicinity of a specific airport, through determining an optimal four dimensional (4D) trajectory for efficient landings and takeoffs sequence and time schedule for each runway, the air traffic control system comprising:

a centralized processor server unit for each airport air traffic control entity, such a unit being programmed;

to receive and store a schedules data on landings and takeoffs from a specific airport;

to receive and store current location data and flight path data from all airplanes scheduled to land and takeoff at the said airport;

receiving and storing flight safety FAA/EASA regulations data;

to perform landing and takeoffs optimization considering the safety regulations criteria through defining a special system of four dimensional coordinates (X,Y,Z,T) pertaining to the method, wherein a final approach point is defined as an origin of such system of coordinates, wherein X defines longitude, Y defined latitude, Z defines height, and T defines time;

define, individually for each particular airport, an aerial sector for landings, and an aerial sector for takeoffs in such a way that there is a safety interval between them to comply with FAA/EASA security regulations;

build a virtual arc-shaped line near the airport, called an identification arc, such an arc comprises a variety of identification points;

obtain geographical coordinates and speed of each landing aircraft entering the identification arc area by checking if the aircraft is closer to the identification arc then a certain user-predetermined tolerance level collecting landing aircrafts location and speed data;

determine, individually for each landing aircraft, an arc-shaped boundary line called a starting points line;

determine, individually for each landing aircraft, its landing slope percentage based on trajectory starting point and current speed, under minimal and maximal speed FAA/EASA requirements;

means for checking, individually for each aircraft, entering the starting points line location area, a list of possible safe landing trajectories from the starting points line to the parking area, while taking in consideration another landing aircrafts possible landing trajectories, safe distances between them and FAA/EASA landings safety regulations and distances, wherein a trajectory is defined as a time-ordered sequence of four-dimensional positions;

means for checking the time of arriving to the identification arc location, while taking into consideration safety regulations and regulatory distances and intervals from one landing aircraft to another landing aircraft, or to the aircrafts scheduled to takeoff, and if the difference between landing aircrafts at the identification points'"'"' line is smaller than both the FAA/EASA safety regulations and regulatory distances, and an user-determined tolerance level, then recalculating a potential list of possible safe landing trajectories from the identification line to the starting points line in such a way that the aircrafts will arrive to the starting points line with the certain time difference larger than the predetermined safety time interval;

periodically check for each landing aircraft, if the distance from the aircraft current location to the nearest vertex in the arcshaped boundary line from which all landing trajectories will start, is less than the userdetermined tolerance level, until determining that such a distance is less than the abovementioned user-determined tolerance level;

means for sending aircraft location data to the centralized processor server unit;

a display device for a human controller and one or more processors controlling the display device, wherein each air traffic control object includes a transmitter and receiver for bidirectional communications;

one or more processors controlling said display device and configured to periodically receive a value representative of local air traffic conditions, periodically generate a display on said display device comprising a plurality of aircrafts located in the identification arc area; and

on reception of a new said value, re-determine said aircraft trajectories;

means for sending four-dimensional safe landing trajectory to at least one aircraft entering the identification arc area;

landing traffic lights system, such a system having changing colors depending on the availability status of the runway, wherein the color will be red, and when the aircraft will leave the runway area, the sensors will be activated and the light will be turned to the green;

means for checking if the aircraft has deviated from the above provided four-dimensional safe landing trajectory, and, if distance from the said safe trajectory to the real time aircraft location is more than deviation tolerance, sending to the aircraft an instruction to return to the nearest available point of predefined trajectory above;

means for receiving, by a trajectory receiving unit in the aircraft, a trajectory defined by a series of four dimensional points elements of the airport domain, which elements the aircraft is to successively follow, with each element being comprised of at least two reference points which represent fixed geographical points of said airport domain;

means for switching the system mode from automatic system to decision support system, and from decision support system to automatic system;

means for switching the system mode from regular system mode to emergency system mode in airport emergency scenario.

11. A system of claim 9, further comprising a takeoffs traffic lights system having changing colors depending on a free status of the runway, wherein the color will be red when the runway is not clear, thus, not available for the takeoff;

and will be green when the runway area will be clear for the takeoff, in such a situation, the sensors will be activated when the previously landed or taking off aircraft will clear the runway by crossing over a special line at the end of the runway, such a system comprising;

Central Traffic Lights Server to be established and interconnected with the Central Processing Server Unit, the said Central Traffic Lights Server will hold an operational database that stores controllers data, monitors the system, and allows timing and other parameters to be modified;

traffic lights, in connection with the Central Traffic Lights Server, such traffic lights change their color on aircrafts entering and vacating the runway, such traffic lights will be installed alongside the runway, from the both sides of the runway;

a local controller, such a controller operates the traffic lights through the load switches using the signal timing provided by the user of the system;

detecting sensors that will be used to gather information about the conditions used in the local traffic signal controller and allocate time at the intersection;

stop-line detectors that will be used for safe green and red phase termination, such sensors will operate for landings and takeoffs, wherein the next available landing aircraft will be allowed to land only after the runway will be cleared plus a certain tolerance level and the aircraft will be allowed to takeoff, after the runway will be cleared plus a certain tolerance level.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising facilitating a red light phase alert and initiating the emergency landing status, if landing or taking-off aircraft will take longer to clear the runway than a maximal runway segment time duration, as defined by the user;

means for checking, individually for each aircraft, entering a starting points line location area, a list of possible safe landing trajectories from the starting points line to a parking area, while taking in consideration another landing aircrafts possible landing trajectories, safe distances between them and FAA/EASA landings safety regulations and distances, wherein a trajectory is defined as a time-ordered sequence of four-dimensional positions.

10. A device for generating an optimized four dimensional trajectory for aircrafts for optimized landings, takeoffs sequence and time schedule, the device comprising:

identification arc location determining unit, such an identification arc comprises a variety of identification points;

geographical coordinates determining unit, the said unit determining for each aircraft entering the identification arc area, a variety of identification points from where the landing trajectories will begin;

trajectory receiving unit that receives a trajectory defined by a series of four dimensional points, where such points represent time-ordered sequence of three-dimensional aircraft positions;

coordinate extraction unit that obtains the geographical coordinates from the trajectory receiving unit that correspond to the elements of said trajectory that the aircraft is to successively follow;

safety separation determining unit that checks aircraft separation criteria and generates an alert if a distance between two or more aircrafts is less than a predefined separation criteria;

emergency landing unit that receives an emergency landing request and, following that, exits an automated optimal trajectory mode and enter a manual emergency mode to allow for the emergency landing airplane to land as quickly as possible;

centralized processor server unit in data communication with each of the plurality of the air traffic control computers.