PREDICTING AIRCRAFT TRAJECTORY
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of providing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language, the method comprising:
- receiving information defining how the aircraft is to be flown during a time interval, and storing the information in an information database;
deriving a set of instructions from the information stored, wherein the set of instructions comprise configuration instructions that describe the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and motion instructions that describe the motion of the aircraft;
ensuring that the set of instructions comply with a set of rules stored in a rules database thereby confirming that the configuration instructions define the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft as required and that the motion instructions close the degrees of freedom of equations of motion used to describe the aircraft motion during the time interval; and
expressing the set of instructions using a formal language.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a computer-implemented method of producing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language. The description may be used to predict aircraft trajectory, for example by air traffic management. Rules are used in association with information provided to generate a set of instructions describing both the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and the motion of the aircraft. These instructions are checked to ensure that they describe unambiguously the aircraft'"'"'s trajectory. The instructions are then expressed using a formal language.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of providing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language, the method comprising:
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receiving information defining how the aircraft is to be flown during a time interval, and storing the information in an information database; deriving a set of instructions from the information stored, wherein the set of instructions comprise configuration instructions that describe the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and motion instructions that describe the motion of the aircraft; ensuring that the set of instructions comply with a set of rules stored in a rules database thereby confirming that the configuration instructions define the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft as required and that the motion instructions close the degrees of freedom of equations of motion used to describe the aircraft motion during the time interval; and expressing the set of instructions using a formal language. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-implemented method of predicting the trajectory of an aircraft comprising:
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reading data providing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language, the data provided by a method comprising; receiving information defining how the aircraft is to be flown during a time interval, and storing the information in an information database; deriving a set of instructions from the information stored, wherein the set of instructions comprise configuration instructions that describe the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and motion instructions that describe the motion of the aircraft; ensuring that the set of instructions comply with a set of rules stored in a rules database thereby confirming that the configuration instructions define the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft as required and that the motion instructions close the degrees of freedom of equations of motion used to describe the aircraft motion during the time interval; and expressing the set of instructions using a formal language; solving equations of motion defining aircraft motion using said data and with reference to an aircraft performance model and an Earth model; and providing a description of the predicted trajectory. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A computer-implemented method of air traffic management, comprising:
predicting the trajectories of at least two aircraft, comprising for each prediction; reading data providing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language, the data provided by a method comprising; receiving information defining how the aircraft is to be flown during a time interval, and storing the information in an information database; deriving a set of instructions from the information stored, wherein the set of instructions comprise configuration instructions that describe the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and motion instructions that describe the motion of the aircraft; ensuring that the set of instructions comply with a set of rules stored in a rules database thereby confirming that the configuration instructions define the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft as required and that the motion instructions close the degrees of freedom of equations of motion used to describe the aircraft motion during the time interval; and expressing the set of instructions using a formal language; solving equations of motion defining aircraft motion using said data and with reference to an aircraft performance model and an Earth model; and providing a description of the predicted trajectory, and comparing the at least two predicted trajectories to identify potential conflicts. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method of avoiding aircraft collisions, comprising:
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an aircraft predicting its trajectory, comprising; reading data providing a description of aircraft intent expressed using a formal language, the data provided by a method comprising; receiving information defining how the aircraft is to be flown during a time interval, and storing the information in an information database; deriving a set of instructions from the information stored, wherein the set of instructions comprise configuration instructions that describe the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and motion instructions that describe the motion of the aircraft; ensuring that the set of instructions comply with a set of rules stored in a rules database thereby confirming that the configuration instructions define the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft as required and that the motion instructions close the degrees of freedom of equations of motion used to describe the aircraft motion during the time interval; and expressing the set of instructions using a formal language; solving equations of motion defining aircraft motion using said data and with reference to an aircraft performance model and an Earth model; and providing a description of the predicted trajectory; receiving a set of instructions expressed in a formal language that relate to the aircraft intent of another aircraft; predicting the trajectory of the other aircraft; and comparing the two predicted trajectories to identify any conflicts in the trajectories. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification