Method for guiding an aircraft during a convoy flight

• US 6,587,757 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2002
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Sainthuile, Gérard
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mancho, Ronnie
• Application Number:
  US10/148,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20020183900A1
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/3, 701/7, 701/8, 701/120, 701/121, 701/122, 701/301, 340/961, 342/29, 342/455
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00

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.

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 D_SEP, characterized in that it consists in giving the calculated air speed V_CAS,S of the slave aircraft (2) an initial value V_CASO,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 V_CAS,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 D_SEP, this guidance process being defined by a recurrence relation of the form:

$<br><br>\{\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{c}{V}_{\mathrm{CAS},S}<br><br>\left(t_0\right)=V_{\mathrm{CAS0},S}<br><br>\left(t_0\right)\\ V_{\mathrm{CAS},S}<br><br>\left(t_0+\mathrm{k\Delta <br><br>}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>t\right)=V_{\mathrm{CAS},S}<br><br>\left(t_0+\left(k-1\right)<br><br>\mathrm{\Delta <br><br>t}\right)+\end{array}\\ E<br><br>\left(\left(D_{\mathrm{SEP}}-D_M\right),\left(t_0+\left(k-1\right)<br><br>\mathrm{\Delta <br><br>}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>t\right)\right)\end{array}$

Δ

t being the periodicity of the correction, D_M and D_SEP values updated at the instant (t₀+(k−

1)Δ

t).

2. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the initial value of the calculated air speed of the slave aircraft (2) is taken equal to the calculated air speed scheduled during the preparation of the flight plan of the slave aircraft (2) at the place where it is situated at the moment of implementation of the guidance process, this calculated air speed resulting from the application of a 4D defining law dependent on the four variables:

altitude, time, latitude and longitude.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the initial value of the calculated air speed of the slave aircraft (2) is taken equal to a calculated air speed adopted by the slave aircraft (2) when cruising.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the initial value of the calculated air speed of the slave aircraft (2) is taken equal to the calculated air speed of the master aircraft (1) at the moment at which it passed substantially the same point of the trajectory.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, one is given a so-called effective margin of tolerance Δ

L_e, as a percent, in the measured distance D_M relative to the preset distance D_SEP below which the corrective term E takes a zero value and above which the corrective term takes a non zero value.

6. The process as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that a hysteresis phenomenon is introduced around the effective margin of tolerance Δ

L_e, by giving the latter a reduced value upon each detection of its overshoot, doing so as long as the overshoot lasts.

7. The process as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that, in the case where there is a preset margin of tolerance Δ

L_c, an effective tolerance margin Δ

L_e which is stricter than the preset tolerance margin Δ

L_c is adopted by applying a positive safety coefficient k′

of less than 1 to the preset tolerance margin Δ

L,;

8. The process as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the safety coefficient k′

is taken equal to 0.8.

9. The process as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that a hysteresis phenomenon is introduced around the effective tolerance margin Δ

L_e by giving the latter, when it has just been overshot and for as long as it is overshot, a reduced value deduced from the preset tolerance margin Δ

L, by applying a positive hysteresis coefficient k″

of less than the safety coefficient k.

10. The process as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the hysteresis coefficient k″

is taken equal to 0.5.

11. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the corrective term E is taken proportional to the discrepancy noted between the measured separation distance D and the preset minimum separation distance D_SEP with a coefficient of proportionality p taken equal to:

12. The process as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the consistency coefficient M is taken equal to:

$M=\frac{120<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{kts}}{1<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{NM}}$

kts being a speed in knots and Nm a nautical mile.

13. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the measured separation distance D_M is the horizontal component of the effective separation distance.

14. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the measured separation distance D_M separating, at a given instant, the slave aircraft (2) from the master aircraft (1) on a rectilinear trajectory, is derived from the locations of the master (1) and slave (2) aircraft by means of the relation:

15. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the measured separation distance D_M separating, at a given instant, the slave aircraft (2) from the master aircraft (1) while the slave aircraft (2) is situated on a rectilinear part, with heading χ

_p, of the trajectory followed by the two aircraft, and the master airplane (1) on another rectilinear part, with heading χ

_s, of this trajectory, which are joined together by an arc of a circle of radius r, starting at a point P₁ marking the end of the rectilinear trajectory part traversed by the slave aircraft (2) and terminating at a point P₂ marking the start of the rectilinear trajectory part traversed by the master aircraft (1), is taken equal to the sum of the distances separating the slave aircraft (2) from the point P₁ and the point P₂ from the master aircraft (1) plus the length L of the circular arc taken equal to;

16. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the separation preset distance D_SEP is deduced from a minimum timespan preset Δ

T between the passings of the two aircraft (1, 2) through one and the same point of the trajectory by applying the relation;

17. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the separation preset distance D_SEP is derived from a defining table giving it as a function of altitude.

18. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the separation preset distance D_SEP is a distance preset given by an air controller.

19. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the location of the master aircraft (1) is transmitted in a cooperative manner by the latter to the slave aircraft (2) by means of an ADS-B system.

20. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the slave aircraft (2) acquires the location of the master aircraft (1) by means of an onboard radar.

21. The process as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the slave aircraft (2) acquires the location of the master aircraft (1) from a ground-based locating station.