Method for guiding an aircraft during a convoy flight
First Claim
1. A process for guiding a so-called slave aircraft (2) in the context of a convoy flight, behind another so-called master aircraft (1), on one and the same predetermined trajectory and with a preset minimum separation distance DSEP, characterized in that it consists in giving the calculated air speed VCAS,S of the slave aircraft (2) an initial value VCASO,S, in periodically deducing the distance separating the slave aircraft (2) from the master aircraft (1) from the geographical position of the slave aircraft (2) and from that of the master aircraft (1) at one and the same instant, and from the known shape of the trajectory followed by the master (1) and slave (2) aircraft, then in periodically correcting the calculated air speed VCAS,S of the slave aircraft (2) by modifying it with a corrective term E derived from the discrepancy noted between the measured separation distance D and the preset minimum separation distance DSEP, this guidance process being defined by a recurrence relation of the form:
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to compliance with the safety distances between aircraft travelling, in a queue, one behind the other, through a prescribed air corridor. It is more especially concerned with a process allowing an aircraft knowing its position and those of the various aircraft flying in its close vicinity, for example by virtue of the ADS-B system, to manage by itself its separation distance with respect to another aircraft taken as reference. Such a process is an aid afforded to the crew of an aircraft and to the control authority regulating the traffic in the relevant air corridor.
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21 Claims
- 1. A process for guiding a so-called slave aircraft (2) in the context of a convoy flight, behind another so-called master aircraft (1), on one and the same predetermined trajectory and with a preset minimum separation distance DSEP, characterized in that it consists in giving the calculated air speed VCAS,S of the slave aircraft (2) an initial value VCASO,S, in periodically deducing the distance separating the slave aircraft (2) from the master aircraft (1) from the geographical position of the slave aircraft (2) and from that of the master aircraft (1) at one and the same instant, and from the known shape of the trajectory followed by the master (1) and slave (2) aircraft, then in periodically correcting the calculated air speed VCAS,S of the slave aircraft (2) by modifying it with a corrective term E derived from the discrepancy noted between the measured separation distance D and the preset minimum separation distance DSEP, this guidance process being defined by a recurrence relation of the form:
Specification