METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANAGING A CONVOY OF AIRCRAFT DURING A TAXIING

• US 20090299552A1
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus France
• Inventors: VILLAUME, Fabrice, Scacchi, Pierre
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles
• 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

Abstract

The system (1) comprises means of transmitting data (2, 6, 5) between the aircraft of the convoy and with ground control, and at least one control device, at least partially automatic, for at least one following aircraft of the convoy.

Claims

1. A method of automatically managing at least one convoy of aircraft taxiing on the ground, said convoy (CA) comprising a coherent set of at least two aircraft (A1 to An) which follow one another along a common trajectory (TR) for taxiing on the ground, namely a lead aircraft, called leader aircraft (A1), and at least one aircraft following it, called following aircraft (A2 to An), according to which method:

first means (2) are providing enabling information to be exchanged between the various aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy (CA) concerning flight parameters of the latter, representative of individual behaviors within the convoy;

second means (5, 6) are providing enabling information to be exchanged; and

for at least one of the following aircraft (A2 to An) of the convoy (CA), repetitively and automatically;

a yaw speed instruction is generated enabling the following aircraft (A2 to An) to laterally follow a trajectory (TR) for taxiing on the ground, which is common to the aircraft of said convoy (CA);

a current convoy status table is received, which describes the current status of the convoy and indicates at least a longitudinal separation to be observed by said following aircraft relative to at least one aircraft preceding it in the convoy;

using said current status table, a longitudinal speed instruction is generated enabling the following aircraft (A2 to An) to observe said longitudinal separation relative to said aircraft preceding it; and

using said yaw speed instruction and said longitudinal speed instruction, help is provided in controlling the following aircraft (A2 to An) taxiing on the ground within the convoy of aircraft (CA),

wherein;

said second means (5, 6) enable information to be exchanged relating to the convoy as an entity, between the aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy (CA) and at least one control station (4) that manages the collective behavior of the convoy (CA); and

said ground control station (4) receives from each aircraft (A1 to An) information relating to the status of the convoy, centralizes this information, schedules the convoy and transmits to each aircraft (A1 to An) the current status table which indicates the overall status of the convoy and which is updated according to information transmitted individually by each of the aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the longitudinal speed instruction is limited by an allowable maximum speed envelope.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said longitudinal speed instruction is calculated by taking into account one of the following information items:

a separation to be observed relative to an aircraft directly preceding the following aircraft in the convoy;

a separation to be observed relative to a leader aircraft of the convoy; and

separations to be observed, respectively, relative to the aircraft directly preceding the following aircraft and relative to the leader aircraft.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said current status table includes, for each aircraft of the convoy, at least the following information:

its rank in the convoy;

the names of the various aircraft that make up the convoy; and

the separation or separations to be observed.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4,

wherein the separation to be observed depends on the type and the dimensions of the following aircraft and of the followed aircraft, on the status of the runway and on the visibility.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the longitudinal speed instruction is monitored so as to:

limit this instruction within the limit of the normal operational capabilities of the aircraft, when the latter is in normal regulation conditions; and

grant a speed or acceleration authority greater than the normal limits, when security conditions demand it.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the leader aircraft (A1) of the convoy (CA) is piloted according to a speed profile that takes account of constraints that are associated with at least one following aircraft (A2 to An) of the convoy (CA).

8. The method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein:

to attach an aircraft (A2) to said convoy, an attachment point (Pa) is determined which is situated on the ground and which represents the beginning of the portion of common trajectory (TR) between this aircraft (A2) and the convoy, and said aircraft (A2) is considered to be attached as soon as it has passed said attachment point (Pa); and

to detach an aircraft (A2) from the convoy, a detachment point (Pd) is determined which is situated on the ground and which represents the point marking the end of the portion of common trajectory (TR) between this aircraft (A2) and the convoy, and said aircraft (A2) is considered to be detached when it has passed this detachment point (Pd) and is at a predetermined safety distance (L).

9. A system for automatically managing at least one convoy of aircraft taxiing on the ground, said convoy (CA) comprising a coherent set of at least two aircraft (A1 to An) that follow one another along a common trajectory (TR) for taxiing on the ground, namely a lead aircraft, called leader aircraft (A1), and at least one aircraft that follows it, called following aircraft (A2 to An), said system comprising:

first means (2) enabling information to be exchanged between the various aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy (CA) relating to flight parameters of the latter, representative of individual behaviors within the convoy;

second means (5, 6) enabling information to be exchanged; and

at least one device (1) that is mounted on a following aircraft (A2 to An) and which comprises;

means (11) for generating a yaw speed instruction enabling the following aircraft (A2 to An) to laterally follow a trajectory (TR) for taxiing on the ground, which is common to the aircraft of said convoy (CA);

means (8) for receiving a current convoy status table, which describes the current status of the convoy and indicates at least a longitudinal separation to be observed by said following aircraft relative to at least one aircraft preceding it in the convoy;

means (12) for generating, using said current status table, a longitudinal speed instruction enabling the following aircraft (A2 to An) to observe said longitudinal separation relative to said aircraft preceding it; and

means (13) for helping with the control of the following aircraft (A2 to An) taxiing on the ground within a convoy of aircraft (CA), using said yaw speed instruction and said longitudinal speed instruction,

wherein;

said second means (5, 6) are formed in such a way as to exchange information relating to the convoy as an entity, between aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy (CA) and at least one control station (4) that manages the collective behavior of the convoy (CA); and

said ground control station (4) is formed in such a way as to receive from each aircraft (A1 to An) information relating to the status of the convoy, centralize this information, schedule the convoy and to transmit to each aircraft (A1 to An) the current status table which indicates the overall status of the convoy and which is updated according to information transmitted individually by each of the aircraft (A1 to An) of the convoy

10. The system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein said means (13) for helping with the control of the following aircraft (A2 to An) comprise:

means (21) for automatically guiding said following aircraft; and

display means (22).